Kulsoom Tapal (she/her) joined CACF as the Education Policy Coordinator in October 2022 after being an Education Policy Fellow since September 2021. Her work is focused on building out the AAPI curriculum campaign by identifying and pursuing key legislative, budget, and programmatic goals to advance the inclusion of AAPI voices in the classroom and strengthen intersectional solidarity. This campaign is advocating for the integration of AAPI curricular resources in existing core curriculum while centering a Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education (CRSE) framework. Kulsoom is looking forward to working with key stakeholders including community members, students, educators, parents, partner organizations, government agencies, elected officials, and allies to move this work forward.

Kulsoom is a community organizer, creative thinker, and a child of immigrants. Aside from her role at CACF, she is one of the founding leaders and organizers with the New York Muslim Organizing Collective which is working to empower Muslims to mobilize and fight for social justice. Prior to her current role at CACF, Kulsoom has worked in various advocacy, policy, and non-profit spaces. Most recently, Kulsoom was the Associate Director of Growth at Orr Group. She has also had roles at various intuitions including Poligon, a Congressional Advocacy Organization, Congresswoman Jayapal’s Office, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, and the Community Justice and Mediation Center. She is an alum of Indiana University, where she studied Informatics and Public Policy.