Barbara St. Thomas
Barbara St. Thomas began volunteering at Safe Place for Youth in 2013 and quickly realized the uniqueness of this amazing organization. She feels her greatest education has come from the brave young people she’s been honored to meet there.
Barbara has over 20 years of experience as a youth advocate working with nonprofits and the public/private school sector. She has developed and integrated innovative service-learning programs across multiple grade curriculums, established sustainable community partnerships, taught classes in creative writing and community outreach, and mentored high school students in service projects that received national-level recognition.
Prior to her full-time focus on philanthropic endeavors, Barbara was head of marketing for the western state regions of the New York Stock Exchange’s settlement subsidiary, NSCC. There she implemented and supported NYSE products and services to major and boutique brokerage houses and served as an officer on the board of the Association of West Coast Securities Management.
Barbara is proud to have been raised in rural Pennsylvania Amish country where the community focus was on farming. She received a K-12 teaching degree with special certification in Early Childhood Development from local Shippensburg University and taught for several years before moving to Los Angeles.