|
December 2004
As a Sikh raised in the United States,
Mandeep S. Dhillon has been involved in a broad range of activities
both inside and outside the Sikh community. His current project,
The Sikh Next Door, is the first integrated multimedia
curriculum program that has been designed specifically for American
schools. The curriculum presents a flexible platform for teachers
to lead students through a discussion on diversity, while showing a
15-minute, professionally developed film about Sikh kids in the US
as an example of a community people know very little about. The
purpose of the project is to help teachers create a dialogue around
the number of ways people are the same, despite their apparent
differences.
Prior to working on The Sikh Next Door,
Mandeep helped found the several Sikh youth organizations to help
Sikh children raised in the US develop confidence in themselves and
their communities. In 1991, Mandeep co-founded United Sikh
Association (USA), a national Sikh students organization that set up
local chapters for young Sikhs to come together and discuss local
issues and religion, plan community events that impacted the broader
communities they lived in, and provide support for one-another. In
addition, USA sponsored youth conferences in California, North
Carolina, Michigan and Florida.
In 1992, Mandeep helped found the Lohgarh
Retreat, the first Sikh property in the US focused exclusively on
the development of Sikh youth. The Retreat takes place on a 60-acre
scenic campsite in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania that was purchased by
Sikh benefactors specifically for the purpose of running Sikh
camps. Each year, about 100 Sikh youth, aged 8-18 come to learn
about their religion, history, music and language, as well as
undertake projects that help build their confidence in their Sikh
identity. Mandeep served as camp director for 10 years, and
continues his involvement in a supporting capacity.
Out of Lohgarh Retreat formed the Lohgarh Sikh
Educational Foundation (LSEF), another non-profit organization that
focuses on Sikh development through education. Through LSEF,
Mandeep is branching out from the ongoing camps to projects that
impact the communities Sikhs live in through the use of multimedia.
The Sikh Next Door is the first of many projects that focus
on changing the perception of Sikhs in the communities they live
in. The Sikh Next Door is designed specifically for students
in 6-12 grade, has a video directed and produced by Tami Yeager, an
award-winning documentary filmmaker and a curriculum prepared by the
Greensboro Day School in Greensboro, NC. In addition, Mandeep and
LSEF are supporting A Dream in Doubt, a documentary film
designed for public television that follows a Sikh family in the US
that was severely impacted by the events of September 11, 2001 and
the racial turmoil that it created. Other projects will include
various educational tools and films focused on educating about Sikhs
and including Sikhs as part of the national dialogue.
In the days following September 11, 2001,
Mandeep was also instrumental in forming and running Sikh
Communications Council, an advocacy organization that helped provide
a voice for Sikhs in the media. Sikh Communications Council
established ties with various influential national and regional
newspaper, television and radio outlets to provide commentary on
behalf of Sikhs in response to the evolving national news story. It
helped open local, state and national political channels, and
developed various information media, from newspaper advertisements
to handouts to educational guides, designed to help keep Sikh safe
during a very troubling time.
Growing up in rural North Carolina, Mandeep
became involved in a variety of activities that helped shape both
his Sikh identity and his confidence. In 1983, Mandeep spoke to an
audience of US Senators and Congressmen about the evolving Sikh
struggle in India. In high school, Mandeep was actively involved in
student government, served as student body president, and was voted
most likely to succeed by his class. In 1987, Mandeep was one of 2
senators selected from North Carolina to represent the state in the
American Legion Boys Nation program, and was recognized at the White
House along with the 100 senators from across the country.
While at Duke University, Mandeep was an active
student leader, serving as President of the Class of 1992 for 2
years, on the Council of Presidents and on the Alumni Association
Board of Directors. At Duke, he founded two periodicals and
organized various student initiatives. Mandeep was also an avid
basketball and football fan, often being profiled on national
television as a die hard “Blue Devil” who sat behind the basketball
team in a white turban. He graduated from Duke with a degree in
Economics
Following college, Mandeep spent 2 years in
community service founding Lohgarh Retreat. After founding Lohgarh,
Mandeep went on to pursue his MBA at the University of Virginia
Graduate School of Business, where he graduated with high honors.
After business school, he spent a year as a sales and marketing
strategy consultant at Market-Bridge Associates (f/k/a Oxford
Associates) in Bethesda. MD. Mandeep returned to UVA to pursue a
law degree, serving as managing editor of the Virginia Law Weekly
and running a student business while completing his degree.
In 2000, Mandeep and his wife Parveen moved to
California where he joined the international law firm Latham &
Watkins as an associate focused on venture capital and emerging
growth technology company law. In early 2003, Mandeep joined the
Palo Alto, CA office of McKinsey & Company, an international
strategy consulting firm. He serves clients in High Tech and Media
industries and focuses on the marketing function across a broad
range of companies.
In addition to his work within the Sikh
community, Mandeep is on the Board of Directors of the Silicon
Valley chapter of the National Conference for Community and Justice
(NCCJ), a national non-profit focused on diversity issues.
Mandeep and Parveen have two children, Tegh
Zoraver Singh and Hazuri Kaur, and live in Redwood City, CA.
|
