“Building a Food Action Plan in Allegheny County”

Born and raised in the Bronx to immigrant parents from the West African nation of The Gambia, Mariama Badjie graduated with honors in community health education and a minor in public policy from Hunter College in New York City. Mariama first faced tough questions about racial and socioeconomic equity when she found herself at one of New York’s nine elite public high schools, where black students made up only 4% of the student body. Since then, Mariama has found her passion in health equity, and continues to do work around education access in her Bronx immigrant community. As a student at Hunter, Mariama was the outreach intern in the Community Wellness Department at Sauti Yetu Center for African Women, where she connected the Bronx’s West African immigrant communities to free health education programs. Mariama also works to empower American Muslim youth through a number of community organizations.

The Pittsburgh Food Policy Council uses the Collective Impact model to bring together stakeholders from across the food system to examine, develop, and improve the food system of our region.

The PFPC convenes food systems stakeholders and change makers to network, break down silos, invite participation in decision making and priority setting, inspire collaboration, provide leadership development and training, develop comprehensive food policy approaches, and strengthen movement building. Combining dynamic presentations, collaborative activities and networking, PFPC hosts regular meetings to connect the larger community of advocates, entrepreneurs, community members and policymakers to help coordinate the activities and policy initiatives of the Working Groups.