Joshua Willams: Founder, President, and Chief Change Maker of Joshua’s Heart Foundation

This week, in my Philanthropy course at FIU Honors College, we explored motives for giving and serving through stories of philanthropic leaders, and we identified and discussed social problems in different communities. One philanthropic leader deserving recognition is a dear friend, Joshua Willams. Williams is the Founder and President of Joshua's Heart Foundation (JHF), an organization focused on educating and transforming families, individuals, neighborhoods, and communities into becoming knowledgeable in stomping out hunger. At a young age, Williams discovered that there were members of his community that went without food; in 2005, Williams founded his foundation when he was just four years old, with the help of his family. Since then, the foundation has distributed over six million pounds of food, donated over 200,000 toys, served over five million meals, and has had over 60,000 volunteers. Through all of Willams's work and efforts, he has empowered youth to make a difference in their communities. Creating JAB, the Junior Advisory Board of the Foundation, a leadership program that fulfills all three requirements of the National Alliance for Secondary Education and Transition, was something that Willams wanted. He wanted to create something where young adults could learn and volunteer, as he had trouble as a young child looking for somewhere to volunteer, as most required adults for volunteers. The three requirements that are fulfilled are:

1. Youth acquire the skills, behaviors, and attitudes that enable them to learn and grow in self-knowledge, social interaction, and physical and emotional health.?
2. Youth understand the relationship between their individual strengths and desires and their future goals, and have the skills to act on that understanding.?
3. Youth have the knowledge and skills needed to practice leadership and participate in community life.

While serving on the Junior Advisory Board, youth create and design their projects, acquire organizational skills, and gain self-confidence from their success. Members also gain experience in various areas, including fundraising and public speaking. Throughout the time members serve on the board, they can gain leadership experience and confidence that they will carry with them in their lives. JAB is responsible for creating programs to help accomplish the foundation's mission of inspiring and empowering youth to tackle global issues and change the world through kindness, teamwork, and determination while making sure to be role models for the youth in their communities and further.

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