bold idea
Build a more welcoming United States—by establishing a membership of asylum seekers, providing members with critical legal support, and engaging in member-led advocacy.
organization overview
The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP) is the largest collective of asylum seekers in the United States. ASAP uses technology to serve more than 1 million asylum seekers from 175 countries. ASAP supports asylum seekers for the long haul as they navigate the U.S. asylum system—using in-depth resources, a remote legal help desk, and breaking news alerts. ASAP then works alongside members to make change: members collectively decide ASAP’s priorities, share their stories with the public and press, and participate in high-impact litigation and advocacy campaigns. To date, this model has made it possible for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers to access the authorized workforce and contribute to their local communities, and generated more than $1 billion in additional household income for immigrant families.
Personal Bio
Swapna Reddy is a Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), a nonprofit organization serving more than 1 million asylum seekers from 175 countries living across the United States. Swapna is an immigration lawyer and technologist with experience conducting AI research at Harvard and data science research at MIT. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, NPR, and USA Today, and has been widely recognized, including by Ashoka, Echoing Green, Equal Justice Works, the Fast Forward Tech Accelerator, GLG Social Impact, and the J.M.K. Innovation Prize. Swapna is the daughter of Indian immigrants. She has a law degree from Yale Law School and a computer science and math degree from Harvard College.
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Organization/Fellow Location ?
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Impact Location ?
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