Since the age of 15, R. Alicia Thomas has been assisting her peers and members of the community with job placement, by the age of 25 she had been instrumental in putting over 100 people to work and had never spent a day as an employment counselor. Today she realizes that helping to put the village to work is her God given purpose. Her goal as a Board Member for the Smith Center for Community Advancement is to arm the Village with Job Readiness Skills and employment opportunities as well as mentoring the youth of the community to be positive contributors to what she affectionately calls “The Village!”