Fermika Smith is in constant motion.

“I stay busy. I have to,” she said.

A clinic practice manager at Merit Health River Region, the Vicksburg native serves as chairman of the Vicksburg Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, serves on the boards of Habitat For Humanity and United Way of West Central Mississippi, and with her husband chairs the voter registration ministry for Greater Grove Street M.B. Church.

“It’s my way of giving back to the community,” she said.

A graduate of Hinds Community College and Alcorn State University with a bachelor’s degree in business, Smith has been a clinical practice manager at River Region for three years, after working 13 years for Good Samaritan Rehabilitation.

“I went there straight out of college and worked my way up to business office manager,” she said. “My first job I ever had, I was a waitress at Cedar Grove Mansion and Restaurant. I learned so much. I think everybody’s first job should be as a waitress or waiter; you learn a lot about customer service. That was a foundation for me.”

As clinic manager, she manages the daily operations of the hospital’s cardiology, general surgery, orthopedic and outpatient psychiatric clinic practices.

“I have the privilege of managing an awesome group of people in this clinic,” she said. “I’ve been blessed to have a good group of people. “

Smith, who spent her early childhood living in a housing authority home, was appointed to the Housing Authority Board in 2012.

“I was born into the housing authority. We moved away when I was about 3 or 4 years old, and to come back and been able to now be the chair of the board of commissioners that oversees the place where I was born has been a blessing,” she said.

She said Christopher Barnett, a former board member and chairman, approached her about joining the board a year before her appointment.

“It was just something I put on the back burner, and then I was approached about it again, and I made the decision to join the board.

“Coming on the board, I knew nothing about the Housing Authority, HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development), and that aspect. But I knew this was something special for me, something I could learn. I’ve learned a lot in the last four years.”

Since Smith joined the board, the VHA has undertaken a major multi-million dollar rehabilitation project to improve all of its properties to begin the transition from public housing to Section 8 under HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration, or RAD, program.

“Basically, it’s public housing that’s gone private,” she said.

“That was a little scary at first, but the board was faced with the decision of how were we going to bring all of our units up to date and not just fix here and patch there. With these aging units, this rehab project was our only way out.”

Smith said one of the Housing Authority Board’s goals is to change the perception of VHA’s properties.

“We take good care of our properties and we maintain them very well. We have an opportunity to put brand new appliances in from top to bottom, new flooring, and when you have a home that is modern and clean it gives you a certain pride about where you live, and that’s something we’re working hard to instill in our residents.”

She said the voter registration ministry at Greater Grove Street is a program she and her husband have done for a long time.

“Surprisingly, the problem is not really registering people to vote,” she said. “The problem is getting them to the polls to actually vote, and conveying to them how important it is to actually vote. A lot of people I’ve approached actually think their vote doesn’t count. People don’t understand how voting, especially in local elections, is so important to your community.”

Smith has been on the United Way board and its executive board for more than a year.

“River Region has a representative on the board, and the past representative’s term expired, and I was approached by the administration at the hospital to represent the hospital,” she said, adding she became familiar with United Way through her work with Habitat for Humanity, where she is vice chairman of the organization’s board.

She was asked to join Habitat by its director, Abraham Green, who also serves on the VHA board.

“We just recently sold a home,” she said. “Habitat has a lot of property that we attained by people donating them, and some of those properties aren’t necessarily building properties, and (if) we can sell a property we’re not able to build on, that’s a plus for us.

We have two new constructions on Roosevelt Avenue. AmeriCorps has been very gracious with helping us with that project and we have received help from the community.”

She said there is a common thread involving her board memberships, “I believe God uses people and when someone sees something in need that you don’t see yourself, that’s a blessing,”

Besides her work on the boards, Smith has been a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Alumnae chapter in Vicksburg since 2009.

“We’re getting ready for our annual Jabberwock Extravaganza,” she said, adding the event is an enrichment program for young girls in the community.

Smith said she enjoys her activities in the community, “And nothing that I do is happenstance; it’s all personal. I grew up in a single parent home and with a strong mother who had strong morals and values, and all that was instilled in me. Vicksburg is my home, and so if I’m going to live here and make my home here, I’m going to do what I can do to make it a better place.”