Marco Thomas
Marco is a native of Northside RVA and a product of Richmond Public School system. His passion for Social Justice and second chances stems from the trials of his own lived experiences. He started his journey in community engagement as a member of the Engaging Richmond Research team. After successfully completing Richmond Peace Education Center’s (RPEC) Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities trauma training (HROC), he returned to take the Training for Trainers and became a HROC facilitator. Marco learned to conduct Restorative Circles with Restorative Youth Services of Virginia, and before coming to ROI, worked for the VUU Upward Bound program, where he taught and inspired first generation, low income RPS high schoolers to fulfill their desire to obtain a college education. Having just obtained his own Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Virginia State University this past December, Marco desires to be an encouragement for anyone that thinks life has pasted them by, and a voice of hope for those that think their past disqualifies them from having a successful future.