Community Organizing Alliance is a social justice and civic engagement organization which educates, empowers, and engages young people centering Black and Immigrant voices. The Organization was born from the personal experiences of Executive Director Safiya Khalid, who in 2019 became the youngest and first Somali-born person elected to city council in Lewiston, Maine, a major population center for African immigrants and refugees in the Northeast. As a city councilor and, previously, a political organizer, Ms. Khalid encountered many people who felt strongly about issues that mattered to them and their communities, but were overwhelmed and intimidated by the world of policy development. Though 10% of Lewiston's population was born outside the US, the vast majority of the community, like the rest of Maine, is white. Ms. Khalid herself was the target of racism from local and national voices and understood first-hand the systemic barriers to civic participation within her community. She founded Community Organizing Alliance to help bridge this gap, focusing on youth from Black and immigrant communities. COA works on a variety of issues from climate change education, affordable housing, economic development and more.