Speaker / Activist/ Pastor/ Consultant
BIOgraphy
Rev. Mariama was born and raised in Boston and began her community engagement in high school, mostly pointedly with Project HIP-HOP (Highways Into the Past - History, Organizing and Power), a youth organization focused on teaching the history of the Civil Rights Movement and engaging a new generation of young people in activism. After college, she became the Executive Director of Project HIP-HOP, where she served for 13 years. In 2017, she graduated with her Master of Divinity at the Boston University School of Theology and was ordained an elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 2018, she founded New Roots AME Church in Dorchester where she currently pastors.
Rev. Mariama White-Hammond was appointed as Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space in April 2021. In this role, she oversees policy and programs on energy, climate change, sustainability, historic preservation, and open space. Over the course of her time with the City, she has supported the amendment of the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) to set carbon targets for existing large buildings and convened a city-led green jobs program.
Rev. Mariama uses an intersectional lens in her ecological work, challenging folks to see the connections between immigration and climate change or the relationship between energy policy and economic justice. She has received numerous awards, including the Barr Fellowship, the Celtics Heroes Among Us, The Roxbury Founders Day Award and the Boston NAACP Image award. She was selected as one of the Grist 50 Fixers for 2019 and Sojourners 11 Women Shaping the Church.
Fellowships & Awards
Sojourners 11 Women Shaping the Church
GRIST Fixers for 2019
Barr Nonprofit Leadership Fellow 2009-2011
Drylongso Award for anti-racism work, Community Change, 2006
Giver the Community Award, Union of Minority Neighborhoods, 2005
Boston Celtics “Heroes Among Us” (for work w/ Fenway High School students), 2004
City-to-City Leadership Exchange to Ireland, San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia, 1999-2003
No Ordinary Time Spiritual Leadership Fellow, 2003
Channel 56 Unsung Hero, 2003
Emerging Leaders Fellowship, 2002
Work
Experience
2020- Present
Co-Chair RENEW New England
10/2017- Present
Founding Pastor of New Roots AME Church
04/2017 – Present
Green Justice Coalition, Fellow
01/2017 – 01/2018
Bethel AME Church, Interim Youth Pastor
12/2010 – 08/2012
Bethel AME Church, Interim Youth Pastor
09/2001 - 06/2014
Project HIP-HOP, Executive Director
06/2001 – 08/2001
College Track, Drama, Dance & Music Teacher
10/1997 – 06/2001
College Track, Tutor
06/2000 – 08/2000
ABCD, Youth Supervisor & Literacy Coach
09/1996 – 07/1997
Ten Point Coalition/ Bethel AME Church, Admin Assistant
Education
2014 – 2017
Boston University School of Theology MDiv in Global and Community Engagement
1997 - 2001
Stanford University Major in International Relations (focus on Latin America)
1992 – 1996
Winsor School