Courtesy of Jan Pieter Van Voorst Van Beest, an individual partner
Description
Pious Ali has worked as a self-described “foot soldier” on behalf of immigrant youth in Portland. “I believe that young people who have faith—it doesn’t matter what kind, and it doesn’t have to be organized religion—will do better.” To that end, he started an organization called Maine Interfaith Youth Alliance.
For a former celebrity photographer once welcomed in the highest circles of Ghanaian society, this life of service to disadvantaged youth in his adopted homeland of Maine does not really seem so contradictory. “This has become home. So I might as well make this a good place for kids,” he says.
Pious Ali immigrated from Ghana to New York in 2000, moved to Maine in 2002, and as of 2017 is a member of Portland Public Schools Board and a community organizer. He was the first African-born Muslim elected to public office in Maine, and was elected to Portland's City Council in 2016.
About This Item
- Title: Pious Ali, Portland, 2009
- Creator: Jan Pieter Van Voorst Van Beest
- Creation Date: 2009
- Subject Date: 2017
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Locations:
- Ghana
- Portland, Cumberland County, ME
- Media: Digital photograph
- Object Type: Image
Cross Reference Searches
Standardized Subject Headings
- City council members--Maine--Portland
- Emigration & immigration--United States
- Emigration and immigration--Ghana
- Immigrants--United States--Maine--Portland
- Photographers--Ghana
- University of Southern Maine
People
Other Keywords
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. No Permission is required to use the low-resolution watermarked image for educational use, or as allowed by the applicable copyright. For all other uses, permission is required.
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