WASHINGTON--The India Abroad Center for Political Awareness (IACPA) hosted a reception on Monday, for Asian Indian-American staff members working on Capitol Hill, at White Tiger Restaurant, 301 Massachusetts Ave. NE. Nearly one-half of the Indian-American staff members working on Capitol Hill attended the event.

Gopal Raju, Chairman of the Board of Directors of IACPA, was impressed by the attendance. "I think this was a tremendous success. It was incredible to see so many active Indian-Americans on Capitol Hill. The reception was a great opportunity for them to meet and network with each other." Raju added, " The number of staff members on Capitol Hill has grown exponentially. A few years ago, I could have counted the number of staffers on one hand, the turnout at today's event shows the incredible growth." Prem Shunmugavelu, an associate of the Center stated, "As a former staff member on Capitol Hill, I was excited to see so many staffers come to the event; we as Indian-Americans are starting to make our presence known on the Hill." Shunmugavelu added, "I look forward to working with these Capitol Hill staffers on issues important to the Indian-American community."

Also discussed at the reception was the Washington 2000-Capitol Hill Mentorship Project. Indian-American staffers will be mentoring Indian-American undergraduate students who will be interning on Capitol Hill this summer as part of the Washington Leadership Program 2000. Each year for the past 6 years, IACPA has sponsored between 15-20 college students to come to Washington for the summer, learn how the political process works, and receive leadership training.