08 Feb Member Spotlight: Jone Williams
My name is Jone Williams and I have been a member of BPW/North Sarasota since 2004. I have been actively involved for the past 17 years and have held the offices of secretary and treasurer. I serve on the finance committee and I am co-chair of the 2021 H’attitude Scholarship Luncheon. I am also active with the Sarasota County Branch NAACP where I am a past secretary and current member of the executive committee for the past eight years. I am also a co-advisor for the Sarasota NAACP Youth Council. I am passionate about serving my community. Even though BPW and the NAACP keep me busy, I have been involved in several other community ventures, including a Community Health Worker for the Newtown Wellness program where I have volunteered for the past nine years, sponsored by the USF Gulf Coast Area Health Education Center. I am also a certified breast cancer awareness facilitator for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and for prostate cancer, hypertension, diabetes and colorectal cancer.
Current Occupation
I am the Educational Outreach Director for the Safe Children Coalition (SCC), which is formerly the Sarasota Family YMCA. I am responsible for the HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) Program for Sarasota County and for oversight and direction of the SCC Achievers program (formerly the Y-Achievers). My duties include ensuring compliance related to eligibility, audits, quality assurance and monitoring requirements related to program delivery and grant management. I have been with the Safe Children Coalition/Sarasota Y since 1992. To find out more about the program, visit https://sccfl.org/achievers#:~:text
Personal information
I was born and raised in Ft. Myers, Florida. and graduated from Riverdale High School. I attended Ft. Myers Business College and Manatee Community College—now State College of Florida—where I received certifications in the Early Childhood field. I have been married to Robert L. Williams, Jr., for 36 years and we have one son, Jabari Williams, and a great nephew, Cortnei Allen.
I am a member of New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church where I have served for 20 years. I am chair of the Culinary Committee, co-chair of the Funeral Committee, co-chair of the Youth and Children’s Ministry, chair of the scholarship committee and past chair of the Women’s Ministry and the Alpha and Omega Step Team. I am currently the advisor to the Shepherd’s Mime Ministry.
Even though my work has not been for any accolades, I have received several awards over the years. I was the recipient of the UnSung Hero Award from the Community Foundation of Sarasota in 2002 and BPW/North Sarasota’s Woman of the Year Award. The HIPPY Program of which I am coordinator received the distinction of Best Education Program from the Sarasota Branch NAACP. I also received Second Chance Last Opportunity’s Woman of Wisdom Award, Westcoast Center for Human Development’s Women of Light Award, Women of the Year Award from Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Hurst Chapel A.M.E. Church’s Women Who Make a Difference in their Community Award, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.’s Citizen of the Year Award and ABC-7 WWSB’s Amazing Women Award.