WELCOME TO COLAIAPA
Connecting Indian American County Employees Of Indian Origin and Spreading Diversity
History
County of Los Angeles Indian American Professionals’ Association (COLAIAPA) is a non-profit association of employees of the County of Los Angeles (County) with South Asian Indian origin. Some of the current members knew other members through working in same County department, inter-departmental meetings, occasionally meeting at Indian and non-Indian cultural programs within and/or outside County, or just by relationship as friends or relatives. Some of the current members have been associated with Los Angeles County Asian American Employees Association (LACAAEA), an umbrella organization for diverse Asian origin County employees. A general discussion by few individuals, now members, led to an idea to form an association of the employees that are of south Asian Indian origin to increase cultural awareness and maintain strong diversity in the County’s workforce.To bring this idea into reality an association was officially formed in November 2010 after couple of weekend meetings by few individuals who later served in an executive committee. A kick-off Diwali event was organized at the Little India Village in Artesia, California on December 4, 2010 to inform new members about COLAIAPA’s mission, objectives, annual events and introduction of the executive members. A crowd of 125 people including their family celebrated the birth of COLAIAPA with lighting of lamps, orientation to attendees about the meaning of Diwali, followed by cultural programs that included classical Indian dances, Hindi “Bollywood” songs and dances, and group performances by kids. This was well attended by several representatives from the County’s Board of Supervisors and State government, mayors from the California cities of Artesia and Cypress, County Employees Associations’ representatives as well as Indian American County employees from different departments. The night ended with an Indian dinner for all the guests.
The executive committee members were officially sworn in by Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky of the Third District on December 16, 2010 at his office in the Hall of Administration, Los Angeles. COLAIAPA is committed to bringing a high level of professionalism, ethics, efficiency and diversity at different levels into the County. In subsequent months the association has fostered close relationships with other associations within the County to collaboratively build the County as a place to work effectively, exchange ideas and thoughts, and bridge the gaps between cultures, races, religions and communities. It will also take a proactive role in relevant social issues (e.g. human trafficking and slavery), business issues (e.g. public-private partnership) and cultural issues (e.g. sharing world cultures).