Our Team
Safiya Khalid she/hers
Safiya Khalid is the co- Founder and Executive Director of Community Organizing Alliance. She is a former elected politician who created history when she was elected to the Lewiston City Council as the first Somali-American and youngest person in 2019. She is a graduate of Lewiston Public Schools and the University of Southern Maine, with a Psychology major and minor in Business Administration. Safiya served on many state, municipal and non-profit boards and committees. She is currently attending Northeastern University getting her Masters of Public Administration and focus in public policy. She is an avid advocate of social justice, community organizing, and youth leadership. She envisions a world that is just, fair and is equitable. With COA, we can accomplish these goals by creating and supporting a community that is united and organized to support issues that are important to their daily lives.
Mohamed Khalid he/him
Mohamed Khalid, is the Co- Founder, and Deputy Director of Community Organizing Alliance. A strategic thinker who specializes in the formation of partnerships, has years of experience in administrative, business development, constituent services and nonprofit work under his belt. Mohamed graduated from Lewiston High School and the prestigious Connecticut boarding school, The Kent School, after which he continued to the University of Maine in Augusta to complete his undergraduate studies where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He is currently attending Southern New Hampshire University, where he will get his MBA with a concentration in Leadership. In his spare time, he enjoys hanging out with his family and friends, drinking tea, and supporting Arsenal, whom he calls "the greatest team ever."
Yash Bhardwaj he/him
Yash Bhardwaj is an accomplished project management professional with expertise in Agile methodology, program oversight, and data-driven decision-making. With a successful project delivery track record, Yash has excelled in resolving conflicts, creating efficiency-enhancing dashboards, and achieving impressive cost-saving measures. He has experience in obtaining LEED Accreditation for Green Buildings and proficiency in technical skills like Python, Agile, and Tableau have further contributed to his success. Currently enrolled in a master's program at Northeastern University majoring in Project Management, Yash is dedicated to delivering outstanding outcomes for organizations, making him an invaluable asset to any team.
Advisory Board Members
Fatuma Hussein
Fatuma Hussein is the founder of, and has been the Executive Director of Immigrant Resource Center Of Maine formerly known as the United Somali Women of Maine for the past 19 years. She came to this country as a refugee teenager, attended school in the U.S, and began to work as a community advocate, using all the lessons she had learned in overcoming the challenges of being a refugee teenager in a different culture. These lessons helped her to found the Women's Center, established in 2001, to promote self-sufficiency and economic empowerment, and to prevent all types of violence and promote a non-sexist, multi-cultural environment that raises up the strengths of refugee and immigrant women and girls by serving as cultural brokers, barrier reducers, skill enhancers, and problem solvers.Fatuma is involved in many initiatives and serves on several boards and committees throughout Maine. Fatuma chairs New Mainers Community Collaborative and is a Founding member of City SPIRIT. Governor appointed seats: Maine Commission on domestic & sexual Abuse, Maine Permanent Commission on the Status of Women. Based on her work, Fatuma received an Honorary Degree from Bowdoin College in 2017.
Abdullahi Ali
Abdullahi is the founder and Chief Executive officer of Gateway Community Services. Abdullahi was born in Somalia, raised in Kenyan refugees camps and resettled in Maine as a refugee. While in Kenya, Abdullahi studied sociology at the University of Nairobi. Abdullahi has worked with humanitarian and development agencies in Kenya. He was regularly involved in programs and activities of income generation for vulnerable communities, peace education, women’s empowerment and skills development. Abdullahi studied Social Science at the University of Southern Maine and graduated with Masters of Science in Justice Studies from Southern New Hampshire University. For over six years Abdullahi worked with survivors of torture and individuals and families with mental illness in Portland, Maine.
Chole Maxmin
Hailing from rural Maine, Chloe Maxmin is the youngest woman ever to serve in the Maine State Senate, at 28 years old. She was elected in 2020 after unseating a two-term Republican incumbent and (former) Senate Minority Leader. In 2018, she served in the Maine House of Representatives after becoming the first Democrat to win a rural conservative district. She also received an honors degree from Harvard College, where she co-founded Divest Harvard. Chloe is the recipient of the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes and the Brower Youth Award. She was also named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone. She was named the 2020 Legislator of the Year by the Maine Council on Aging .
Maureen Drouin
Maureen Drouin is Executive Director of Maine Conservation Alliance and Maine Conservation Voters, where she advances the organizations' interconnected goals of environmental protection, climate action, voting rights, and racial equity. She has helped create and grow several coalitions to build the power needed for climate action and environmental protection including Maine’s Environmental Priorities Coalition. Before coming to MCA/MCV, Maureen worked on conservation at the state, regional, and federal levels with several organizations including the National Audubon Society, Sierra Club, and Northern Forest Alliance. Maureen graduated from Bowdoin College with a degree in geology and environmental studies and completed a one-year fellowship program with Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing. She currently serves on the Natural and Working Lands Working Group of the Maine Climate Council and the Hallowell Conservation Commission. Maureen loves walking and hiking in all weather, drinking strong Irish tea, growing vegetables (especially garlic), collecting eggs from her chickens, and cheering at her daughter’s soccer games. She lives with her family in Hallowell.
Joanne D’Arcangelo
Joanne is a non-profit consultant and leadership coach with over thirty-five years’ experience in Maine’s political and non-profit sectors. Through her current enterprise, JD'A Consulting & Coaching, she provides coaching and mentoring to social justice entrepreneurs and non-profit leaders, as well as organizational development and meeting facilitation services. From 2006 – 2019, D’Arcangelo advised dozens of clients in public policy development and advocacy, as well as donor advising and philanthropic planning, leveraging over two decades in the State House as a staff leader and non-profit advocate. Recent clients include the Maine Democracy Collaborative, Consumers for Affordable Health Care, York County Community Action Corp., Legal Services for the Elderly, and the John T. Gorman Foundation. Prior to her consulting business, she served as Chief of Staff for Maine’s House Majority Leaders and the Speaker of the House; V.P. for Public Affairs at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England; Director of Advocacy and Director of Development at Maine Family Planning; Executive Director of the Maine Justice Foundation; and as lobbyist for the Maine Women's Lobby. D’Arcangelo is the recipient of a number of awards for her work in political action and on behalf of social justice, including induction to the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame (2020); the Maine Women’s Lobby 40th Anniversary Honoree; Maine Family Planning’s Huber Award (2007), the Maine Women’s Policy Center Leadership Award (2006); the Portland YWCA’s Woman of Achievement Award (2001); the Maine Civil Liberties Union’s Roger Baldwin Award (1999); and the Maine Women’s Fund Annual Recognition Award (1994). Joanne has an M.A. in English from the University of Maine, and lives in Portland. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and Chair of the Planned Parenthood/Maine Action Fund.
BJ McCollister
From the State House to the White House, BJ McCollister is a political strategist with a track record of delivering wins for his clients.
McCollister has been considered a statewide leader in political campaign management, issue advocacy, and public policy for over a decade. As the Chief of Staff to Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, McCollister led policy development, coalition organization and management, and communication strategy to pass nationally recognized prescription drug, health care, and labor reforms. He served as the go-to staffer for developing and managing caucus priorities, negotiating the state budget, and acting as a chief liaison between the executive and legislative branches.
McCollister is widely regarded as a leading campaign strategist in Maine. In working for President Joe Biden, he helped lead the Biden for Maine campaign to a 52% victory, a six-point increase from Clinton’s 2016 election results. As Executive Director for the Maine Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, he helped lead Maine Senate Democrats to the largest majority for any political party in nearly 30 years. With Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, McCollister helped lead ballot initiative efforts to successfully improve the Maine Clean Election Act at the ballot box.
He is a 2014 recipient of the Portland Phoenix’s “Best of Awards” for advocacy work in the halls of the statehouse, has been twice nominated for the American Association of Political Consultants’ (AAPC) 40 under 40 award, and was awarded the Maine Educational Opportunity Association’s Rising Star Award in 2020. In 2021, he was elected to a three year term as Maine’s representative to the Democratic National Committee. He lives in Portland, Maine, with his partner and their dog Muskie.
You can find him on Twitter at @bjmccollister.