Dec 2, 2025 By Melissa Gibson 3 min read

When she worked as a recruiter for a large company in Uniontown, the Rev. Marlella “Marrie” Thomas found that the young women she interviewed were ill-prepared.

Some, she said, came in wearing unprofessional clothing or brought their children with them. It was clear to Thomas that many didn’t know how to present themselves in an interview.

Then, she went to a local housing project to host a job fair with jobs that would potentially pay up to $17 per hour. She was sure people would jump on the opportunity, but that wasn’t the case.

The manager called it “the cliff effect.”

“Hire someone at $17 per hour, and they get booted from welfare. Now, they have to pay for groceries, child care and insurance. The rent they were not paying before is suddenly $400 to $500 per month,” Thomas said. “It was a real eye-opener for me.”

A conversation with her niece prompted Thomas to create the Legacy of Hope Center, a nonprofit designed to empower women by breaking the cycles of low self-esteem and limited opportunities.

“I asked my niece what was up with these young women and she said, ‘It’s not that they don’t want better, they don’t know how.’ From that point on, I felt called to put something together to help women in Fayette County understand that there is more. This doesn’t have to be your life,” Thomas said.

She found space at the Launch Box, a no-cost business accelerator for start-ups, to host meetings and classes. She pulled together several female volunteers, and since April 2025 they’ve been working with young women in whatever capacity is needed.

“I’m not looking to recreate the wheel. The organizations are there. We’re just connecting the dots. Any woman over 18 and looking for a change or in need of help is eligible,” Thomas said.

She’s helped women get their bills paid, start the process of obtaining a GED, find a higher paying job, and connected others to parenting classes. Thomas said she wants to be a “one-stop shop” for resources and is actively seeking connections to do that.

“There’s a lot of things we take for granted. For example, I’ve talked to a local bank about a budgeting class. Some people don’t know the first thing about a bank account,” she said.

Volunteers with Legacy of Hope Center are creating a database of contacts to address specific needs. Thomas hopes that existing partners will refer others so the database of resources keeps growing.

The women who use the center’s services create an action plan and take ownership of it. As they grow in skill and confidence, Thomas wants them to look back and know that they were responsible for their own success.

“The beauty of it is, you can leave an impact for your daughter. I hope this is cyclical. I hope it creates generations of strong, educated women,” Thomas said.

For more information, visit https://www.legacyofhopecenter.org/.