Beyond the Million: Making a Lasting Impact in Woonsocket

Mariam Kaba laughs and says “no” when asked if she is a celebrity in Woonsocket.

Most people, she says, have no inkling that she, at the age of 16, was the first-ever winner of a statewide competition staged by a private foundation which pledged to invest $1 million in her ideas for making a positive impact in the lives of the young people in the city she calls home.

Speaking by phone from her dorm at Northeastern University in Boston, Mariam, now 19, took a break during her busy freshman year to chat about her transition to college, and the most recent project made possible with the support of the Papitto Opportunity Connection.

Shortly after selecting Mariam as its 2022 winner, the Papitto foundation contracted with Leadership Rhode Island to guide her through the unusual role of teenage philanthropist.

That responsibility went to Samantha Bergbauer, LRI’s director of community engagement, who, together with Mariam, decides whether a project advances Mariam’s vision of transforming the lives of young people of color.

The LRI relationship with Mariam, now in its third and final year, has resulted in an epic variety of projects, from job fairs and clothing drives, to the installation of a colorful mural in the Woonsocket High School cafeteria; outfitting a supervised quiet room in Citizens Elementary School where an overwrought child can unwind; a bus trip so the city’s ninth graders could make inspirational visits to nearby colleges, and a financial literacy workshop for high school students at Bryant University.

She is thrilled with each one, but the opening of a food pantry at the city’s Harbour Youth Center just before she left for college “brought me to tears,” Mariam confides.

To her, that pantry, generously stocked with fruits and vegetables, shelves of canned and packaged food, and a refrigerator- freezer filled with cuts of beef and chicken, translates into healthy meals for young people and their families.

Relieving hunger was one of the goals Mariam listed in her award-winning treatise of how to improve life in her community, or, as she put it, “Restore the Village.” She had friends who were dealing with hunger, and knew others who had after-school jobs to help pay the family grocery bill.

The impact of the Mariam Kaba Community Food Pantry is reverberating through the Harbour Youth Center. “We are building community around food,” Stump Evans, youth services director, enthused.

The center’s clientele from 14 to 24 years old includes “some who are parents themselves; others are unhoused kids.” All are welcome to grab something to eat on-the-spot, to take home, or both.

Sometimes, the Harbour staff prepares a dish, perhaps chicken thighs with rice, so local teens can gather around a warm meal. Some days, humus and carrot sticks, or fruit, are set out.

Families can drop by once every two weeks to fill two bags with whatever they want.

The pantry is replenished every other week by We Share Hope, a nonprofit that delivers surplus food from a variety of sources to non-profit sites throughout the state.

When asked what it’s like to be a teenage philanthropist, Mariam refers to her sophomore year when she worked on her entry for the $1-million Transform RI Scholarship. Mariam says it is easy to identify problems, such as hunger, and even amorphous problems, such as young people who have lost hope.

“I could see what was wrong, but didn’t have money to do anything about it,” she says. The $1 million changed that.

As for how the experience has changed her, Mariam, the daughter of immigrants from the Ivory Coast, allows that she “may be more outgoing and more self confident.”

Mariam recalls being tongue-tied when she was invited to speak after she was named winner of the statewide competition.

“A year later I did a Ted Talk.”

Jacklyn Xavier CLRI 2020, community engagement coordinator at LRI, says Mariam was “timid, maybe even nervous” during her first visit with LRI staff. But, in time, “she came out of her shell and was more vocal about explaining her vision.”

One of LRI’s first steps was to offer her a CliftonStrengths assessment which identified her Top Five: Restorative, Futuristic, Competitive, Input, and Includer.

Discovering she had strengths “had a profound impact on her,” says Bergbauer. “She’s someone who naturally radiates humble wisdom, and it has been truly inspiring to see her embrace the language of the strengths report, and, even more significant, to adopt the confidence that those around her have always seen in her.”

At Northeastern, Mariam is taking a “combined track” of studies in business administration and health sciences, one leading to an undergraduate degree in finance, and one that leads to graduate school and a career as a physician’s assistant.

“Your parents must be proud of your achievements. Are they?” she was asked.

Though chatting by phone, it’s safe to say that the question prompted a big smile. “Yes,” she said, “They call me their African Dream Child.”

Returning to the initial question of being a hometown celebrity, Mariam confides that she used to think of herself as someone masquerading as an authority on how to improve the lives of others.

“It’s called imposter syndrome, a concept I’ve learned since being here,” she said. Fortunately, “that’s finally faded away. I know I’m making a difference.”