Maria Barakat is a Lebanese/Palestinian American human rights worker. As Program Manager for Transformative Racial Equity at the Greenlining Institute, she supports California state level racial equity policy development. Maria holds a Master of Public Policy degree from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School and specializes in racial equity and housing and homelessness policies. Her public policy work integrates her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology of Law and Society. Born and raised in the US South, Maria has previously been a project manager, small business owner, and Chef.