A Message From the Board
The Healthy Waltham Board of Directors is thrilled to welcome Chukwuemeka (BJ) Osuagwu to Healthy Waltham as its new Executive Director! Among many excellent candidates, BJ stood out: He is an experienced leader, fundraiser and community organize with a deep passion for community health and wellbeing. We are confident that BJ is the right person to consolidate our organization’s recent expansion and oversee the opening and operation of the new Healthy Waltham Community Pantry.
BJ’s passion for community development and drive to make a positive impact on his community have been present from a young age as his long history as a youth mentor can attest. While a student at Gordon College, he founded a campus community engagement organization serving students of the African Diaspora and he was selected to join the Clarendon Scholars program, an urban leadership development and honors program that prepares students to pursue careers as leaders in cities and urban areas around the country. For the past several years he has held positions with the Boston City Council working on policy and constituent services and civic engagement. He currently serves as a member of the board for Rose’s Bounty Food Pantry in West Roxbury.
We are excited by BJ’s passion for our mission and his vision for expanding Healthy Waltham’s programmatic offerings, particularly in the youth space. We know you will enjoy getting to know BJ and we look forward to your continued support for Healthy Waltham. Please join us in welcoming him to the Healthy Waltham family and wishing him every success in this new endeavor.
The Healthy Waltham Team
A Message From the New Executive Director
Hello, Waltham! I feel so honored to have been entrusted to lead Healthy Waltham by its Board of Directors. Rest assured that I will do everything in my power to realize the worthy mission of this organization and continue the legacy of outgoing Executive Director, Myriam Michel, who accomplished so much during her tenure.
First up, I’d like to share a little bit about myself and what makes me excited and proud to be leading Healthy Waltham into the future: My career has been dedicated to service; with energy, optimism and an insatiable curiosity about my fellow humans, I’ve sought to positively impact those around me. My passion for serving others stems from my parents, Nigerian immigrants who instilled in me the importance of community, empathy and supporting those in need.
Healthy Waltham’s outsized impact on the residents of Waltham, its vitality and energetic base of supporters and its big vision for the future immediately drew me to the organization. I truly believe that the new Healthy Waltham Community Market is an opportunity to revolutionize the concept of the food pantry. It will create a space where families and individuals experiencing the trauma of food insecurity, perhaps living far from their communities of origin, will be treated with dignity and empathy. They will have the freedom and autonomy to select culturally appropriate foods that nourish their families and will be able to utilize services to assist them in accessing more sustainable government assistance programs.
I’m also looking forward to expanding Healthy Waltham’s community programming. I hope to be able to develop opportunities for Waltham’s young people to become community stewards and spearhead community renewal initiatives, in addition to creating programs to support the health and wellness of all our Waltham neighbors.
I’d like to thank all those who have given me such a warm welcome. I look forward to building relationships with Healthy Waltham’s constituents and supporters and am excited to contribute to the advancement of the City of Waltham as a whole. Please feel free to reach out with any comments, questions or suggestions! My door (and my inbox!) is always open.
With sincere thanks,
Chukwuemeka (BJ) Osuagwu
Executive Director
Healthy Waltham
[email protected]