PEORIA MAGAZINE August 2022

S P O T L I G H T

PEORIA IS HOME SWEET HOME FOR MANY INDIAN-AMERICANS And they are giving back with businesses, jobs, charitable and cultural contributions

BY MIKE BAILEY PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

D r. Kiran Velpula, cancer fighting researcher by day, Peoria city councilman by night, tells an interesting story about how his family arrived in Peoria 14 years ago. He and his wife, Swapna Asuthkar, both of whomgrewup in southern India, had found themselves in Cleveland, working in health care there but feeling very alone, when Peoria, Illinois, of all places – specifically the University of Illinois College of Medicine (UICOMP) here – came a calling. First, they were attracted to Peoria by good jobs that stretched them—both as assistant professors of cancer biology and pharmacology at UICOMP — with competitive pay. They discovered a thriving Indian/Asian community here and suddenly had a social life. Central Illinois’ cost of living was eminently affordable and the quality of life was high, with cultural activities to spare and the ability to get just about anywhere they wanted to go within 15 minutes. Their neighbors were welcoming. “I used to make a funny statement: If you close your eyes and throw a pebble in Peoria, you hit an Indian fellow. That’s how many Indians were here,” said

here in the 1960s, some to teach at Bradley University before moving into medical, engineering and computer software positions. Today they are a who’s who of local Asian-American achievement, with names like Bhandari, Shah, Banargi, Raman, Chatrath, Kalayanraman, Samir, etc. They are a significant presence in area hospitals and clinics, said one such, Dr. Kamlesh Macwan, who arrived in 1994 and has operated a neonatology practice here since. They are CEOs — such as Seshadri Guha, chief executive and founder of TADA Cognitive Solutions and chairman and managing partner of CGN Global – and entrepreneurs, such as Sudheer Saj ja at Pringle Robotics. They are hotel/motel operators and store owners such as Sanjay Bhai at Swagat Food and Grocery. Meanwhile, some have entered politics. Velpula is an at-large member of the Peoria City Counci l. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi grew up in Peoria – where his father taught at Bradley – and now represents Illinois’ 8th District in the Chicago area. They have formed their own organizations – the Asian Indian Community Collaboration of Peoria

Dr. Kiran Velpula is sworn in at City Hall

Velpula. Nearly 9,000 miles away from where he grew up, Peoria is where he wants and intends to stay. Velpula owns a Ph.D. and MBA and is emblematic of many who have migrated from India – highly educated, entrepreneurial, driven, happy to be in central Illinois and optimistic about its future. And they have made and are making a significant imprint. First, the Asian-Indian population of Peoria has grown dramatically over the years, from about 3.8 percent of the city’s residents in 2010 to more than 6 percent in 2020, totaling nearly 7,000 people. That number continues to climb and become more diverse. The original pioneers beganmigrating

22 AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE