Supporting Excellence Conference

Hosted by
Macaulay Diversity Initiative:
Brianna Krummenacker (Hunter ’24)
Laila Gad (Hunter ’24)
Avi Mikhaylov (Hunter ’24)

Open Remarks
Dr. Dara Byrne

Keynote Speaker
Sasha Ahuja

Sasha Neha Ahuja (she/her) is a community organizer and social worker with almost 20 years of experience in advocacy and politics in New York City. Sasha has built her career driving racial and gender justice and facilitating community-centered policy change in government and in local and national progressive organizations. Sasha most recently served as National Director of Strategic Partnerships at Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund. She has previously run citywide and statewide political and issue campaigns, served in an array of leadership positions in New York-based nonprofit and advocacy organizations, and served as Chair of the New York City Equal Employment Practices Commission and is a Commissioner at the New York City Commission on Gender Equity. Sasha is an Adjunct Professor at a number of schools of social work across New York City where she teaches at the intersections of racial equity and social policy, and serves as a trainer and for a

Organizations
The Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit (PEU)

The NYC Public Engagement Unit (PEU) was created to develop a new model for government outreach, using community organizing principles to re-envision how the City provides services to its most vulnerable communities. Rather than expecting constituents to navigate a complex City bureaucracy to get the help they need, PEU adopts grassroots tactics to meet residents where they are – at their doors and on their phones, in their social media feeds and in their communities. PEU combines this proactive outreach with comprehensive case management, and in doing so, combats disillusionment and builds long-term relationships between New Yorkers and their government.