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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                                                                     

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