DSF USA • 25+ Years of Dedicated Impact

Our Projects & Action Timeline

From our founding signature campaign in 1997 to grassroots residential sanctuaries and historic municipal anti-caste ordinances across North America.

Active Global Programs

Current Transformational Initiatives

Supporting generational uplift, legal defense, emergency climate relief, and youth empowerment.

Education & Sanctuary

Pravaham Ashram & Girls Residential Sanctuary

Partnered since 1999 in Vellore, India, providing safe residential sanctuary, holistic healthcare, and rigorous high school & vocational education for young Dalit women escaping bonded labor and caste vulnerability.

500+Young Women Graduated
100%Scholarship Funded
Emergency Relief

Wayanad Landslide Rehabilitation Relief

Mobilizing urgent food rations, dry kits, medical care, and permanent housing reconstruction for marginalized plantation workers and indigenous Dalit families impacted by devastating climate landslides in Kerala.

1,200+Families Reached
DirectGrassroots Distribution
Legal & Civil Rights

North American Anti-Caste Legal Advocacy

Active coalition partner in the historic Seattle municipal caste discrimination ban, California legislative coalition, university anti-bias protections, and ongoing legal defense for trafficked BAPS temple workers.

HistoricSeattle Ordinance
FederalClass-Action Support
Quarter-Century Legacy

DSF Action Timeline (1997 – Present)

Trace our milestones, international delegations, and unceasing advocacy for human dignity.

1997

International Signature Campaign for Dalit Human Rights

Launched the groundbreaking transnational petition mobilizing thousands of diaspora academics, human rights activists, and community leaders to present caste as a fundamental global human rights violation before the United Nations.

1998

Inaugural Benefit Gala & Anti-Caste Public Forum

Held the landmark dinner, art auction, and public symposium in New Jersey bringing together civil rights activists from the Black liberation struggle and South Asian anti-caste movement.

1999

Official 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Registration & Pravaham Partnership

Formally incorporated Dalit Solidarity Forum in the USA, Inc. as an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) public charity. Co-founded Pravaham Ashram in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, establishing a permanent educational sanctuary for Dalit girls.

2001

UN World Conference Against Racism (Durban, South Africa)

DSF delegations marched in Durban to demand that caste-based discrimination based on work and descent be officially recognized alongside racial apartheid by global human rights covenants.

2017

Brandeis International Conference on Caste & Social Justice

Convened leading international intellectuals including Dr. Cornel West, Prof. Sukhadeo Thorat, and Dr. Roja Suganthy-Singh to re-imagine religion, race, and caste equality.

2021–2024

Robbinsville Temple Workers Justice & Seattle Ordinance

Championed federal human trafficking class-action advocacy for 200+ exploited Dalit workers in New Jersey, and co-mobilized the historic Seattle City Council ordinance banning caste discrimination.