Indian American Center for Political Awareness (IACPA) provides congressional internships to over 15 college students annually through the Washington Leadership Program (WLP). So far, the Center has placed 132 interns with 11 Senators, 46 Congressmen and eight other offices.

IACPA provides briefings, information materials and other resources on India and Indian Americans to Congress and the administration. The Center has published four occasional papers, ---- ‘The Kashmir Dispute’ and ‘Nuclear Weapons in South Asia’ by Rajesh Rajgopalan in 1996, ‘India and the United Sates: The first 50 years’ by Selig Harrison in 1997 and ‘Lobbying in America: A Primer for Citizen Participation’ by Ralph Nurnberger in 2000.

Also the Center commissioned the first study of Indian American political behavior in conjunction with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The Center has also conducted an in-depth analysis of Census 2000 data on the growth of the Indian-American community.

IACPA conducts briefings, lectures, seminars and workshops on political empowerment for the community. Over 100 such events have been hosted nationwide. For example, in view of the intensity of the backlash after 9/11 in Arizona, the Center organized a ‘Town Hall Meeting’ recently in Arizona designed to build bridges between Indian Americans and law enforcement officials. The Center earlier initiated a successful campaign to keep three men off the streets following the 1998 hate crime beating of an Indo-Caribbean teenager in Queens, New York.

IACPA acts as a legislative watchdog, monitoring and analyzing legislation at the state and federal levels which impact on India and Indian Americans. The defeat of the so-called Burton Amendment to restrict foreign aid to India has been attributed in part to the work of WLP interns on Capitol Hill. IACPA publishes a legislative scorecard for state and federal candidates so as to allow Indian American voters to make informed choices about their elected officials.

IACPA coalesces with and provides information to non-Indian organizations working towards similar causes such as groups serving the Asian American and American Jewish communities.

IACPA monitors domestic and international media coverage of India and Indian communities. The Center has so far solicited more than 100 editorials on India and Indian Americans from Congressional representatives for publication in Indian newspapers.

For example, the Center received a public apology from the Chicago Tribune in 1997 for a racially insensitive article disparaging Indian Americans.

The Center pressured CBS and Infinity Broadcasting to issue an on-air apology for racial remarks on a nationally syndicated radio program.