About TAGDV

The Telugu association of Greater Delaware Valley (TAGDV) consisting of Telugu speaking people from Greater Delaware Valley was incorporated in from Greater Delaware Valley was incorporated in 1989. Informally our association has been in existence since 1972.

The Tri-State area of south east PA, Delaware and South Jersey form the Grater Delaware Valley. Initially small group consisting of :he families of Mr.Chinapa reddy, Dr.Bondada Murthy, Dr.Dasika Sastry and Dr.V.Naidu met informally to view movies, sing songs, recite poems etc. That was how our association got started.

By 1973 our association got a bit more structured. Dr D.S.R.Sarma a Biochemist, then with Temple University acted as an informal coordinator. He managed to get a few of our people join our association including some Tamils. As years rolled by,more people joined and the association’s membership grew. In early seventies there was an Umbrella organization called India Association of Temple University. Dr.Sarma and DR.V.S.Krishnan were active in the Umbrella Organization. That helped our association to get the space whenever needed for a modest fee. For a while the association activities centered around Deepawali, Ugadi and a summer picnic.

In 1974 Mr.Ramakrishna Reddy (now in Reading, Pa) became the first President of our association and continued till 1979 giving our association a good head start. In 1976 our association participated in project Bicentennial 1776-1976) sponsored by the city of Philadelphia. A folk song recital was given by our association. DrA.Sarma presented a paper on South Asian contribution to American culture as a part of the celebration.

During the first meeting of Telugu association of North America (TANA) held in Newyork city in 1977, our members took an active part. Our association was one of the only four listed by the first TANA souvenir. We thrived well in spite of our humble beginnings. All this was possible due to continued community participation with non- political agenda.

1980's AND BEYOND:

In the 80's our association continued its modest course. Delware Loya Telugu Vani, our quarterly news letter was introduced in 1988. To this day, our news letter serves as an effective medium of communication with our membership. A special mention should be made to Sitaramaiah Ari and Prabhakar Chitrapu who made this news letter possible to us.

During 1989 when Sudhakar Pavuluri was the President our association By laws were written and ratified by the General body. During the same year our association was incorporated in PA., as Non-Profit Organization and the name was registered as "The Telugu Association of Greater Delaware Valley(TAGDV)". Indoor and out door sports competitions were introduced around the same time.