Tammy Thomas

Community Organizer

Tammy Thomas has been a resident of the Youngstown community all her life. She is the proud parent of 3 adult children and a grandson. She grew up on the east side of town and graduated from East High School. She treasures many memories of growing up in Youngstown, including shopping downtown; helping her great-grandmother with day work for prominent families; and the comfort of a mixed neighborhood where everyone cared and looked out for each other. She is grateful to have experienced this city when it was still thriving yet, she is just as heartbroken by the experiences of hard times riddled with crime here too.

Tammy's family migrated here from the South to gain employment. However, they still faced the many obstacles of poverty and under education. Some were able to obtain work in the steel mills. While a few were able to retire, others were caught in the detriments of Black Monday. In 1988, she was hired at Packard Electric as a 2nd tier worker, where she remained for 19 years. Although it took 10 years for her to reach parity, she was grateful for the income and security that Packard/Delphi provided to her family.

At age 40, Tammy returned to college to complete her degree. In December of 2008, she received a BA in Sociology with a minor in Nonprofit Management and a certificate in American Humanics from YSU. She is a member of the American Humanics Nonprofit Student Leadership Organization and the proud recipient of the NextGen Leadership award. This award is given by American Humanics, a national organization supported by major nonprofits from all across the country. Approximately 200 scholarships are awarded each year, and Tammy is only the 2nd YSU student to receive one. She plans on pursuing a Masters in Public Administration or Nonprofit Management within the near future.

"To create a shift that promotes accountability and responsibility that will help restore Youngstown to a viable community that is 'for the people and by the people' who are proud to call it home."

Tammy fell in love with the nonprofit sector while completing an internship at the Salvation Army. There she served as an assistant to the Director of Social Services and ran the Steps2Success Program. Steps2Success consisted of training sessions, geared to help individuals become job ready, overcome some of the hardships of poverty, through faith, encouragement and discovering resources. She then went on to work for Flying High Inc., where she assisted with the opening of the Resource Opportunity Center (ROC). The ROC, is a unique collaboration between government, a faith based institution and a nonprofit, to increase employment within the community. Amongst other duties, she developed the concept of transforming WEP workers from Job and Family Services into Customer Service Representatives, allowing them to gain real work experience; and formed a partnership with YSU for volunteers and interns.

Becoming a community organizer has given Tammy the opportunity to empower individuals and organizations to institute real change within the community. To create a shift that promotes accountability and responsibility that will help restore Youngstown to a viable community that is "for the people and by the people" who are proud to call it home. She has had successful public meetings along with several neighborhood organizations, faith based organizations and SEIU Local 1199. One of which included the 1st community address of the new CEO of Forum. She is currently working on various projects including a Landlord Accountability Campaign that is spearheaded by community leaders. This campaign raises the bar to a higher level of responsibility for those who own rental property in the city.

Tammy knows that she has been blessed and she believes that we are blessed to be a blessing to others; therefore she continues to volunteer and serve in numerous ways throughout the Valley. She also believes that it's important to sow seeds that give back to the community. After all, the most beautiful flower and the tallest trees started from a seed that was nurtured and given enough time to grow.