Community Affairs
About Our Committee
The members of the Community Affairs Committee dedicate themselves to working to improve the partnerships that Project Rishi has with our community. Our projects focus on promoting relationships with local and global organizations and leaders that work towards sustainable development in global health. We recognize the work that has been done and work to promote and collaborate to further the work that we are doing in Vadamanappakkam. Our committee also focuses on the vast network of Rishi chapters spread over college campus in the country. We work to foster relationships and communication with the different chapters through various levels. Most notably, we work to host and attend Rishi conferences that help further our cause at a national level.
RISHI Conferences
UCLA’s Project RISHI chapter was able to work together with USC's chapter to host RISHI RISE, a conference focusing on the intersection of health and business. We were able to invite South Asian leaders in fields ranging from medical technology to social service to present to members from various RISHI chapters. Members were able to interact with the speakers and with each other allowing them to make connections with others working towards sustainable growth in the health sector. We were also fortunate to take part in a conference hosted by UCSD and UCD's Rishi chapters, named RISHI CON, to explore the different projects each chapter has been working on. Members were able to interact with others from different chapters to share the knowledge that they had learnt from implementing their projects and the challenges they faced as well. Each chapter was also able to give more insight into the structure of their organization and collaborate with each other to learn more about in community empowerment. In the future, we aim to work to hold a national conference with all of our 13+ chapters present to learn from leaders in various fields and from each other.
UCLA SPARK Crowdfunding
In 2022, in preparation for our India trip in December, Project Rishi partnered with UCLA SPARK foundation to crowd fund to help with the costs for the initiatives planned in the village. As an organization, we were able to fundraise over $9,000 dollars that went towards the funds needed to implement the initiatives planned. We were able to receive donations from over 90 donors and properly provide information on where their money was going toward. Donors also receive updates on the work that is being done in the village. Project Rishi has also been able to hold donor events for our local donors to meet and discuss the work that is being done and what we have learned over our trip to the village. Project Rishi continues to work towards fundraising through crowdfunding to further our projects in the village as well as sustain healthy relationships with all of our donors.