2019 C-Suite Awards | RISING STAR: ANGELA BANNERMAN ANKOMA | UNITED WAY OF RHODE ISLAND
“If you were to ask me two years ago if I would be here, I wouldn’t have told you that. I just wanted to help people,” said Angela Bannerman Ankoma, executive vice president and director of community investment at United Way of Rhode Island.
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Bannerman Ankoma, born and raised in Providence, realized in fifth grade that she wanted to serve her community. She was inspired by her teacher at Gilbert Stuart Elementary School, Cheryl Fisher-Allen.
“She was my first teacher who looked like me; she was an African American woman and I absolutely loved her,” Bannerman Ankoma recalled. “We did a lot of community service in her classroom. She lived in my neighborhood. Normally, you do traditional Black History Month events in February. I think she did a whole year of Black History Month events. But that had such a huge impact on me and I knew that I wanted to serve.”
So that’s what she did.
After graduating from Connecticut College in 1997 with degrees in Africana studies and psychology, Bannerman Ankoma worked at a Providence group home for children who were aging out of foster care. “I was connected to the work; I was passionate about the work. That’s when I decided, ‘You know what, you like working with people, you like working with children and their families, so go to school for social work.’ ”
Bannerman Ankoma attended Columbia University in 2001, initially to obtain a master’s degree. She ended up graduating three years later with two master’s degrees – one in social work, the other in public health.
“I think that the social work/public health combination is excellent. The public health degree suited me well,” she said.
After a five-year stint conducting research on HIV/AIDS at Columbia, she returned to Providence and joined the state Department of Health in 2008. She became the chief of minority health and co-director of the department’s Health Equity Institute.
Bannerman Ankoma arrived at United Way of Rhode Island in September 2017. As executive vice president and director of community investment, she manages the organization’s strategic direction to better address community needs. In 2018, she oversaw more than $4 million in grants to programs and organizations across the state.
“At United Way of Rhode Island, we’re focused on community first – so my work here is an extension of my work in the community. So that doesn’t even feel like work,” said Bannerman Ankoma.
“Angie is truly a gift, not just to the United Way of Rhode Island, but moreover to the Rhode Island community,” said Cortney Nicolato, president and CEO of United Way of Rhode Island. “For Angie, she has a deep-rooted belief that the prosperity of our state can only happen if our residents have the tools they need to thrive. She not only fights against injustice, but she develops and implements the programs to help solve the problem.”
Bannerman Ankoma’s work goes well beyond United Way. She is the immediate past president of West Elmwood Housing Development Corp. and a founding member of the Sankofa Initiative, a multimillion-dollar urban housing and agriculture project designed to improve health in Providence’s immigrant community.
For her community work, she’s earned numerous honors, such as the Providence NAACP’s Rosa Parks Award, the NeighborWorks America’s Dorothy Richardson Resident Leadership Award and the Women’s Development Institute’s Extraordinary Women Award.
Bannerman Ankoma still thinks about the influence her teacher, Cheryl Fisher-Allen, had on her life. Bannerman Ankoma learned after graduating college that she had died of cancer.
“I never got to tell her about her impact,” Bannerman Ankoma said. “She’s the reason why I stayed. If everybody who makes it leaves, then who’s left, right? I felt it was important for those of us who’ve been supported by and raised in the neighborhood to continue to stay and support. You know it’s not always easy. But if all of us leave, who else is left?”
