Indo American News

Tag: KP George

  • Hindu Charity—HC4A— Launches in the Houston Metro

    Hindu Charity—HC4A— Launches in the Houston Metro

    HC4A directors with Fort Bend County Court Judge Juli Mathew (second from left) and Fort Bend County Judge KP George (third from right).

    HOUSTON: The HC4A (Hindu Charities for America, a non-religious 501c charity) “Serve Where You Live” Houston area kick-off event was held at the end of April 2019 at the Sugar Creek Montessori School in Stafford (southwest Houston) and it was a grand success!

    Apart from Austin-based founder Mr. Harish Kotecha and stalwart member Mr. Dinesh Vakharia, Honorable Judges K.P. George and Juli Matthew shared their experiences working with underprivileged students and communities in Fort Bend County. In addition, Neeta Sane, Houston Community College Board Trustee shared her knowledge on the HCC system and how HC4A may effectively work in the area of workforce/vocational scholarship support.

    Their insights, along with the guidance provided by several key attendees/donors proved extremely valuable for the work of HC4A whose goal is to bridge income disparity through education by a) providing vocational scholarships to economically underprivileged students and b) raise funds for school supplies/school backpacks for the large number of children from underprivileged backgrounds. As Harish Kotecha, the Founder of HC4A put it, “education is important to us and is a passion for us all, and we will continue to support students in our local communities.” Since its launch in Austin back in 2010, Harish Kotecha has now successfully expanded HC4A activities to the Houston and Los Angeles areas.

    This charity is “for America.” It is a unique concept; Indians in the United States have long been sending justifiable aid to India, whether it be through donations for specific projects or remittances. HC4A does not seek to replace or supplant such efforts. Rather, the HC4A seeks to increase awareness of Hindu Americans as a charitable group, thereby promoting steps towards tolerance and acceptance across society. By benefiting local American communities and encouraging concerted efforts by all members of the community through charitable action, HC4A has struck a unique chord in Indo-American society. As a result, over the past few weeks, two more Foundation Board members have joined HC4A-Houston, namely, Mrs. Lalita Trehan, the founder of Sugar Creek Montessori School and Mrs. Ruchika Singh Dias of Bollywood Shake.

    The HC4A-Houston team is proud to announce that they have raised over $10,000 towards vocational scholarships since the launch event, as well as additional funding for the back-to-school backpacks program. HC4A will be meeting with organizers for both activities on July 1s, and shall be finalizing the logistics. A video highlighting HC4A’s activities is available online at https://youtu.be/hvBbRpASwDA and further information is available on their website at www.hinducharitiesforamerica.org You can also reach out to Sashi Konidena, HC4A Houston coordinator at sashi@hc4a.org if you have any further questions about donations for workforce scholarships or back-to-school backpacks program, or need any further information about the charity.

  • Indian-American Sworn In As Fort Bend County Judge In Texas

    HOUSTON: Indian-American KP George sworn in as the Fort Bend County Judge on January 1, becoming the first person from the community to hold the office of one of America’s most diverse counties.

    Mr George, 53, a Democrat and Fort Bend Independent School District Board trustee, defeated Republican Judge Robert Hebert in November polls. In the US, county judges’ duties vary from state to state. Depending upon the size of the county, they perform a wide range of judicial and administrative duties.

    The Fort Bend County has a sizeable population of Indian-Americans. According to the latest census, Fort Bend is now the most diverse county in Texas, and among the most diverse in the country with 35 per cent Anglos, 24 per cent Hispanics, 21 per cent Asians and others; and 20 per cent African-Americans. KP George, who hails from Kerala’s Kakkodu city, said his father, a truck driver, earned only a couple of US dollars a day. He studied using a kerosene lamp.

    He said that community engagement will be the top priority for his administration.

    “I will continue spreading the word of county services and involving all people into the process. It is a historic moment for me as well as for the county. “We will continue to have an open-door policy for the most diverse county which represents people who speak over 100 languages. We are here to represent each one of them and ensure a better place for residents and children of this county,” Mr George said. While in India, George grew up speaking Malayalam and lived in a straw-thatch hut. When he was 15, his family moved to a bigger city where he attended college. After his graduation, he got a job in Mumbai, where for the first time he started speaking English. He worked in the Middle East before moving to New York in 1993 to work for a financial firm. Later, he moved to Texas and has been living in the Fort Bend county ever since along with his family.

    “I strongly believe that success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It is what you do for others,” Mr George said. He first ran for office in 2010, hoping to be elected as the county treasurer. “People asked me in Richmond and Rosenberg, ‘Why are you running?’ It’s not easy for a person like me, brown in color, with no political power, no name recognition. I’d say, ‘Because I can. I’m not a felon. I’m a citizen. Thank you, USA! I hold your values close to my heart.

    “I honestly believe this is the time for me to do public service rather than complain. I am taking responsibility to get involved and work for the US, the country that has given me everything I’ve dreamed of,” Mr George added. -ndtv.com

    KP George Selects Fort Bend County Fire Marshal as New Emergency Management Coordinator

    HOUSTON: Fort Bend County Judge, KP George announced that the Fort Bend County Fire Marshal Mark Flathouse will be the Interim Emergency Management Coordinator at the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) starting on January 2. Judge George said, “Emergency Management is a top responsibility in which we must constantly strive to innovate and improve. Fire Marshal Flathouse will work to prepare a long-term, forward-thinking vision that strives to improve our communication with the public, coordinate better with partner entities, and build community confidence in an effective emergency management operation.”

    With this change, Interim Emergency Management Coordinator Mark Flathouse will begin conducting an analysis to comprehensively evaluate the current situation and map the strategic outlook of the department within the first 100 days of the New Administration. Mark Flathouse has been Fire Marshal of Fort Bend County since 2013. Fire Marshal Flathouse has over twenty years of experience in public service: eight years in the United States Coast Guard with a focus on search and rescue coordination and over twelve years as a Firefighter/ Peace Officer and EMT. His last assignment prior to Fort Bend was in the Victoria Fire Department as the Assistant Fire Marshal. Fire Marshal Flathouse holds a Master of Criminal Justice Management and Leadership from Sam Houston State University, a Bachelor of Emergency Management Administration graduating Cum Laude from West Texas A&M, and an Associate of Fire Protection Technology from Austin Community College. He currently holds Master Fire Inspector, Fire Investigator, and Arson Investigator certifications from the State of Texas; Master Peace Officer TCLOSE certification; Hazmat incident Command and maintains all NIMS level training.

    “I have been deeply appreciative of Jeff Braun’s county government service dating back to 2003. I know that Fire Marshal Mark Flathouse will be an exceptional interim coordinator and Fort Bend County leader moving the department forward to lead the region in Emergency Preparedness and Management,” said Judge George.

     

  • Harris, Ft Bend Counties Turn Blue, a Victory for Diversity

    Harris, Ft Bend Counties Turn Blue, a Victory for Diversity

    Clockwise from top left: KP George and Juli Matthews at the election night victory party; Democratic candidate for the 22nd Congressional district Sri Preston Kulkarni; Rabeea Collier, R.K. Sandill and Alex Karjeker.

    By Nidhi Trehan

    SUGAR LAND: In an amazing victory for Democrats in Harris and Fort Bend Counties, the party captured a majority of seats in these mid-terms.

    Thanks to Sri Preston Kulkarni’s efforts, Democrats got within five points of winning the US House Congressional District 22. Running an energetic, get-out-vote campaign across three counties, Kulkarni, an ex-Foreign Service Officer and multilingual political aspirant who previously worked with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, fought the tightest race in decades in District 22 (formerly the stomping ground of minority whip Republican Tom Delay). When discussing his loss (or near victory), Sri said, “this is just the beginning”!

    Another highly qualified contender of South Asian heritage, attorney Juli Mathew, is now Number 3 Judge-elect for the Fort Bend County Court at Law. A Democrat, Mathew handily defeated her Republican opponent Tricia Krenek with over 54% of the vote. Mathew’s personal outreach to voters at dozens of events across the county paid off.

    Another South Asian, KP George is the Democratic Fort Bend County Commissioners Court Judge-elect, after decisively winning the general election against long-term incumbent Robert Hebert with nearly 53% of the vote. George is currently serving as Position 5 representative on the Fort Bend Independent School District board. Born in South India, he previously worked for a financial firm. He is also the founder of the Hightower High School Academies’ Booster Club.

    The victories for Democrats in Harris and Fort Bend counties emerged from a confluence of events which energized progressives across the political spectrum: firstly, suburban women voters were fired up, as well as youth and minority communities (Harris and Fort Bend are among the most diverse districts in the country) in relatively affluent Sugar Land and other parts of suburban southwest Houston.

    This has partly to do with the on-going perceived excesses and partisanship of the current administration in Washington DC and the dynamic race led by Beto O’Rourke for the Senate (which he lost by only 2% to Cruz). Fort Bend County Democrats chairperson Cynthia Ginyard was one of the key figures in GOTV activities and organizing across the county for all candidates in “down ballot” races. Beto campaigners and volunteers too traversed up and down the county in a successful effort to get new “non-voters” to participate.

    These all combined to create an unprecedented blue “tsunami” in both counties that saw the entire slate of Democratic candidates ride the coattails of Beto O’Rourke and sweep every judiciary and county position in Harris.

    Other Asians in areawide races were Alex Karjeker for Texas House District 129, Rabeea Collier for Texas District Court 113 and Ravi K. Sandill for Texas Supreme Court Place 4.

    Alexander Jonathan Karjeker was a Democratic candidate who sought election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent the South Houston District 129 that covers Pearland, Friendswood, and Clear Lake all the way to Kemah. Karjeker garnered 41.7% or 26,797 votes but lost to his Republican opponent Dennis Paul who received 56.6% or 36,300 votes. Karjeker, of Filipino-Indian (Marathi) heritage, was born in Houston and studied mathematics and economics at the University of Texas and earned master’s degrees in public policy and economics from Georgetown University in 2012. Karjeker’s career experience includes working as a research analyst with Uber. He was married to Bijal Mehta last year in October

    Rabeea Collier became the Democrat Judge-elect of the 113th Civil District Court of Harris County. She ran against Republican Michael Landrum who was appointed to the position in May 2013 by Governor Rick Perry and was seeking re-election. Collier received 54.6% or 645,784 votes to defeat Landrum. Collier, a Pakistani-American and native Houstonian who went to Kingwood High School, the University of Texas at Austin and received her Law degree from Texas Southern University. She is married to Robert Collier, an attorney, and they have two sons.

    R.K. Sandill, a Democrat, garnered 46.2% or 3,767,678 votes but lost to Republican John Devine. Sandill is currently the Judge of the 127th Civil District Court of Harris County since 2009 and is the first ever district judge in Texas of South Asian descent. Sandill, of Punjabi heritage, lives in Houston, Texas. He earned a B.A. in government from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998 and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 2001. Sandill’s career experience includes working as an attorney with Steele Sturm.

    Contributor: Jawahar Malhotra

  • KP George, for Fort Bend County Judge

    KP George, for Fort Bend County Judge

    KP GEORGE_IN
    SUGAR LAND: A long-term community activist KP George is a member of the Fort Bend ISD school board and a local business owner. He was elected to FBISD Trustee Pos. 5 in 2014 and re-elected in 2017 and currently is the candidate for Fort Bend County judge. KP’s passion for giving back to his community stems from the challenges he faced growing up in a tiny village in South India. He began his education learning the local language and walking barefoot to get to school. Even as he did his homework in his straw hut by the light of a kerosene lamp and helped his parents farm before and after school, KP dreamed of achieving his greatest goal: coming to the land of opportunity and living the American Dream.  

    His hard work propelled him out of the poverty of his hometown. He arrived in the U.S. in 1993 to work for a financial firm, and has since earned multiple financial certifications and licenses. KP is currently self-employed as a Board Certified Financial Planner and owns and manages an independent financial planning practice with other advisors.

    Since 1999, KP and his wife Sheeba (an educator in FBISD) have raised their three children in Sugar Land, 2 recent graduates and one currently attending Fort Bend ISD schools.

    KP took the lead in establishing the Hightower High School Academies’ Booster Club in 2013, and served as its first president.  He has also served local Indo-American groups at high levels, worked with the Sugar Land Rotary Club, the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce and was also a member of the FBISD Parents Advisory Team and State Elections Policy & Affairs Team for a local state representative. KP George is very thankful that God has given him the opportunity to live The Dream. Now, he wants to ensure that our children have the necessary tools to achieve their DREAMS because they are our future.

    As FBISD Trustee, KP has helped manage FBISD’s tremendous growth with no tax rate increase, improved academic achievement, and promoted vocational schools.  The 2017 FBISD Board was awarded H-E-B Excellence in Education award for the Best Public School Board in state of Texas and this year FBISD won the H-E-B award for Best Large District in Texas.   

    As the Fort Bend County Judge, KP George will fight for stronger emergency systems, total fiscal responsibility, increased government transparency, and constant community engagement and input. He will focus on giving a voice to the incredible diversity we have in Fort Bend County and fixing the shortcomings of the current county government.

    KP’s PRIORITIES

    Modernizing the County’s Emergency Preparedness Plan

    Support the Creation of a Flood Control District

    Increasing Community Engagement by Creating Citizen’s Committees

    Providing More Opportunities for Youth

    Ensuring Transparency in County Government.

    Support KP George, for further details visit http://www.kpgeorge.com/

    Early voting is happening now until November 2, 2018 and Election Day is November 6, 2018.