South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS) Information

South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS) was founded in 2000 in response to critical issues raised around the tremendous barriers to social services faced in New York City’s fast-growing South Asian community. A not-for-profit community based organization, our founding and continued mission is to plan, provide, support and advocate for a continuum of programs addressing the social service needs of the underserved South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities of New York City. SACSS’ target diaspora comprises of immigrants and their children hailing from the South Asian regions of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and the Maldives. Indo-Caribbeans are individuals from Caribbean nations who trace their heritage back to South Asia. SACSS has five major areas of focus: (1) healthcare access, awareness and advocacy; (2) preventive services; (3) support for seniors; (4) parent education; and (5) English and basic computer literacy training. All programs focus on and assist clients with their various needs in these areas through both direct services and referrals. We also advocate with elected officials on our community’s behalf. All of our programs and services are free and are provided by culturally competent staff members who speak Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, and Bengali.