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Mission

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Indo-American Association of Iowa’s mission is to promote, share, and celebrate the culture and heritage of India through cultural programs and educational and other activities that foster a better understanding of this nation’s diversity and its rich traditions among the Indian-American population and the larger community of Iowa.

Our goal is to advance and foster a sense of unity and belonging in the Indian community and also to advance the Spirit of Brotherhood between our community and other Asian and American communities.

From IAAI President’s Desk,

Dear Association Members

I would like to thank all the members for bestowing upon me the trust to become president of the association for 2023-2024. I would like to thank all the past officers and past committee members for making IAAI what it is today. The environment created by the organization has helped foster Indians of my generation to handle the difficult task of being part of two different cultures and being able to assimilate into the Iowa community.

I believe that the goals of the organization in the current day transcend past our original mission. I believe that we have to foster the growth of Indian culture (whether in music, art, dance, language etc.) and education about India (history, geography, social sciences, current events etc). I believe that with the advent of the global market and community, our goals should also include the aspect of fostering business opportunities both locally and in India. I also believe that our objectives should include supporting charities both locally and abroad and helping make the community a better place for us and our children.

My goals this year are pretty specific:

  • To increase and diversify the membership especially in the younger generations
  • To create more value for the membership by organizing more events that help the goals stated above.
  • To get the youth more involved and interested in the cultural and educational aspects of India
  • To create more networking events to help our community for all their needs
  • To create a platform to share ideas, current events, questions etc
  • To further increase the awareness of the beauty of India and Indians to the Des Moines community
  • To help IAAI give back to the community and create goodwill for us as an association and all members
  • To get as many members as possible involved with the association in helping attain all the above goals

To do this, I have enlisted help from past officers and have involved a diverse group of people from all facets of the community to help me attain these goals for IAAI. I am grateful for these volunteers for committing their time for the benefit of the Association. But I do need the help of all members to truly make us one of the pillars of the Des Moines Community. Please feel free to contact me or any one of the Committee members for any information, help, advice or opportunities. We hope to have a fantastic year and hope to make the membership very happy with the direction and results of the association.

Manish Nathwani

Manish Nathwani

President