WASHINGTON — APAICS applauds House Leadership on their commitment to elevate diverse representation in House staffing, especially with qualified Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders (AAs & NH/PIs).
Among the announcements, Sonali Desai will serve as the Executive Director of the House Democratic Caucus and Moh Sharma will serve as Director of Member Services for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
In December 2022, APAICS and NCAPA sent a letter to House and Senate leadership to elevate diverse representation in staffing. In the 117th Congress, no AA & NH/PI, biracial, Middle Eastern/North African, or Native American served in any of the 41 committee staff director positions or any of the top 20 staff in leadership offices of either party.
The appointment of Ms. Desai and Ms. Sharma is a positive first step toward greater AA & NH/PI representation in senior congressional staff positions.
APAICS President and CEO Madalene Xuan-Trang Mielke released the following statement:
“We congratulate Ms. Desai and Ms. Sharma on their well-deserved new roles. Ms. Sharma was a former APAICS fellow and has been a mentor to many APAICS cohorts that have followed. APAICS has worked for many years with Ms. Desai in her former role as Chief of Staff to APAICS Board Member and CAPAC Chair, Congresswoman Judy Chu. We are thrilled to continue working with them in their new roles.
“We applaud the House Democratic leadership for reducing the gap for staffers of color to serve in leadership positions in Congress. We look forward to continuing to see this growth in representation across government.“
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The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) is a national non-partisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting Asian Pacific American participation and representation at all levels of the political process, from community service to elected office.
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