Jon serves as the Executive Director of GRACE, a one-stop assistance center and low-barrier emergency shelter in Gainesville, FL. He oversees emergency and permanent housing programs, strategic planning, and visioning. His work is guided by two core principles – that everyone deserves a safe place to call home, and that the idea of human beings sleeping on our streets is not “normal,” but rather an unacceptable indication of policy failures and broken systems. Jon also works with other communities as the principal consultant with JDConsultancy.  He began working on homeless assistance projects as a volunteer with Food Not Bombs in 1996 and signed on as the first employee of the local homeless coalition in 2002. Jon has led workshops and panel discussions on homelessness for the Florida Association of Counties, the Florida Coalition for the Homeless, the Florida Supportive Housing Coalition, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, and the National Alliance to End Homelessness.