Jai Jinendra, Since its inception 30 years ago in 1991, YJA has provided opportunities for young Jains across North America to come together and grow closer as a family. From Regional Retreats and flagship Conventions to community platforms like YJA Reflect and our Swadhyay Group, YJA has consistently emphasized bringing our community together to learn, grow, and further a Jain way of life. As we celebrate YJA’s 30th Anniversary, we have a lot to be excited about. In the past 30 years, YJA has hosted 14 Conventions, launched over 60 unique projects and campaigns, and served 10,000+ youth. With the full force of our community behind us, we navigated the challenges of a virtual world head-on, taking it as an opportunity to innovate in ways we never had before. This challenge opened new opportunities for us, allowing us to reflect on YJA’s trajectory thus far and critically plan for the organization’s long-term future. It also allowed us to ◼ create a brand new YJA website and mobile application, offering our community user-friendly ways to stay connected to their #yjafamily, ◼ double down on our commitment to furthering Jain principles by launching the YJA Swadhyay Group and expanding our YJA Pathshala platform, and ◼ give back to our community in times of need, through our COVID-19 fundraiser for India and Season of Seva initiative. What excites us most about celebrating this anniversary is not what we have accomplished in these past 30 years, but where we’ll be heading as an organization in the future. From our upcoming in-person regional events to the 2022 Convention in Dallas, TX, we’re excited for the ability to engage with our YJA community in person yet again. This past year has given us the opportunity to innovate, push the boundaries of virtual platforms, and engage more Jain youth than we ever have before; our success has shown us how promising a hybrid future for YJA can be. We’re lucky to say that this organization has given all of us a second family. As we celebrate YJA’s 30th Anniversary this year, we hope that each of you are able to look back on all of those nostalgic memories and say the same. Michhami Dukkadam, and thank you for your constant support!
With #yjalove, 2020-2021 Executive Board Harshita Jain, Mishi Jain, Sara Jain, Krish Kamdar, Umang Lathia, Romit Nagda, Riya Patel, Pranay Patni, Somil Sanghvi, Chirayu Shah, Paakhee Shah, Satej Shah, Shail Shah, Shilpi Shah, Vishwa Shah, & Ruchi Vora
from the executive board
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