Welcome to Mandaara, New England Kannada Koota

Mandaara – New England Kannada Koota (NEKK) is a Non-Profit exempt Organization under IRS 501(C)3 – Tax ID: 23-7267242.
 Click here for IRS approval letter.

NEKK provides a family atmosphere, friends that help build a mutual supporting system and nurtures your passions and talents.

We invite every Kannada loving individual in and around New England area to join this fabulous fun loving community in any level.

You may be just looking to make more friends that are from Karnataka or Kannada speaking, or seeking to know more families that have same aged children as yours. You may just want to attend cultural events, or interested in volunteering or you like to get involved in social and charity activities, you may be interested in taking part in cultural events and perform, or aspiring to take up leadership positions or want to impart your experience in organizing major events, NEKK offers ideal atmosphere and right platform.

It was formed in 1973 with the following objectives:

• NEKK is a non-profit organization, focused on charity and cultural purposes. It represents a large group of people from the state of Karnataka, India and other Kannada loving individuals in the New England area, and their rich culture, heritage and regional language.
• NEKK is a platform for celebrating ethnic festivals, carrying out charitable and cultural activities. It’s a home away from home for migrants aspiring to continue to cherish the inherent values in practicing their culture and tradition, more so by passing the same to the younger generations.
• NEKK engages in giving back programs, facilitates social engagements and organizes charity activities both locally in the US and overseas including within Karnataka and other parts of India.

The democratically elected office bearers serve in voluntary capacity for 2 years term. The administrative and organizational expenditures are entirely handled by donation funds and membership fees. With over 4 decades of its existence, NEKK is one of the oldest Kannada Associations in the US. Adding large number of memberships each year, it now has over 400 active family memberships and a reachable audience of over 1000 people in the New England area. The membership demography includes scientists, engineers, doctors, educators, writers, media professionals and so on. NEKK is also proud to mention that it is one of the founding member organizations of nation-wide Kannada entities such as AKKA and NAVIKA that align with similar ideals at a national or global level.

NEKK emboldens the community spirit by organizing various contests and cultural events for children and adults, encourages local artistes and talents by providing performance opportunities, organizes college admission counseling and information sessions for the youth, and organizes summer fun picnic outdoors. The events and activities involve careful planning and execution by the volunteers. Needless to mention on most of these events there will be delicious food is made available availability at the event.

NEKK’s recently introduced focus groups help strengthen the community at the grassroots level. A set of members who share certain common interests such as music, literature, youth activities, social service and knowledge areas in math and science, come forward in smaller groups and organize relevant programs independent of NEKK regular events.

NEKK also strives to promote a healthy and balanced sense of achievement among next generation youth. It recognizes exceptional individuals whose contributions to society parallel their achievements in both academics and extra-curricular activities. Such outstanding youngsters are endowed with a token of monetary scholarship.