Bengali Association of Minnesota (BAM)
Website: www.mnbangali.org
History:
History of Bengalees living in Minnesota dates back to 1960. At that time, it was mostly students who came to Minnesota for higher studies. In 1971, the Bengali community celebrated its first Saraswati Puja. It was a small group of hardly 20 young Bengalees. In 1980, the Bengali community celebrated first Durga Puja with about 60 to 70 Bengalees.
Bengali Association of Minnesota was formed in 1990 by the community members. The old hindu temple was used for the place of meetings and discussions then. The association was started with no financial assets, no constitution and no membership fees. Many dedicated volunteers came forward to help the organization.
Since then the community has grown up by leaps and bounds. Currently, the Bengali Association of Minnesota has about 350 members.
