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Professional of the Year
Introducing The FSAS 2010 Professional of the Year
The Florida School of Addictions Studies is proud to announce Jonathan Wade as its choice for the 2010 Professional of the Year.
Jonathan Wade serves his community because of who he is…and who he was.
A lifelong resident of North Greenwood, Jonathan, 54, brings his spiritual principals to the most pressing human problems of the community where, frankly, he once was a problem himself.
Today North Greenwood and the larger Tampa Bay community recognize his integrity, his persistence and his ability to bring together disparate forces for a common goal.
His volunteer base is the Jonathan Wade Center for Growth and Development [1402 N. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive], headquarters for his A Spiritual Change, Inc. He focuses primarily on employment and substance abuse. But the door at the center is open to folks who need everything from computer training to parenting.
Officially open more than two years ago, the Wade Center rescued a dilapidated building in the heart of Clearwater. For Jonathan, the location was important because it made his mission both convenient and symbolic. Situated on North Greenwood’s main street, the small building is at the north end of the commercial center, a block north of a police substation, within blocks of the most important churches and across the street from drug houses. Since the center opened Jonathan has purchased the houses and boarded them up. His vision is to recreate them as a halfway house.
This man is always working on ways to help the community and the residents most in need of his talent. He calls himself a servant leader, the steward of the resources of the Wade Center, the community infrastructure and his neighbors.
But it was not always so.
Jonathan volunteers that he “made bad choices” when he was younger. Addicted to drugs, he found himself one more casualty in the community. But he pulled himself together and attended a 12-step program that helped him get his spirit together. He also realized that he had to go outside North Greenwood to get the help he wanted.
That was not good enough for him. What Jonathan took from that experience was a commitment to the 12-step values such as integrity, faith, humility, caring and giving back.
He resolved to spend his life helping neighbors to repair fractured lives. The first step was to return to school. While working fulltime, Jonathan completed degrees from an associate to Masters in social work at the University of South Florida. He has also won certification as a clinical social worker and addictions professional. His work followed a similar path with service in juvenile justice, family resources and Safe house, an intervention program. He now works as a social worker in the substance abuse program at Bay Pines Medical Center, a VA facility.
Through all this experience, Jonathan is convinced that jobs—good jobs—are key to breaking self-destructive cycles. “We get self-worth from jobs. People believe that without work we are nothing in society.” That philosophy brought Jonathan to push forward job preparation and referral as the heart of the Wade Center.
Jonathan and his volunteer staff handle about 1,000 visits each year. While the economic misery disproportionately affects communities like North Greenwood, the Wade center is still on a path to place 275 in jobs.
Jonathan himself conducts a variety of client services including substance abuse counseling from sources such as court–appointed interventions, the police and those who come directly to the center. The center also leads a kinship-care support for grandparents and other relatives raising children of substance-abusing parents.
In the North Greenwood community, in all of Clearwater, Jonathan has become widely known as a mediator, a leader and a calming presence. He serves as chair of the city’s Parks and Recreation Board. His base in his neighborhood is the North Greenwood Association. He shies away from portraying himself as the community’s leader. Rather, he says a calming, collaborative force who is willing to work with disparate groups and is willing to take the inevitable heat for doing what it takes to improve his community.
"The community shaped me," Jonathan says. "And I bring some important things back to the community."
It is our honor to name Jonathan Wade as the FSAS 2010 Professional of the Year.
Award Includes
$500 cash award
Complimentary registration to the July 18-22, 2010 Conference
Recognition in the FSAS Newsletter and at the school
Former Award Recipients
Jean Mosier ’83, Jerry Kinzler ‘84, Ruther Carter ‘85, Pam Petersen ‘86, Agnes Furey ‘87, Brenda Dillon ‘88, Jay Schrader ‘89, Ray Roberts ‘90, Ann Biddy ‘91, Elizabeth Broughton ‘93, George Dewiliby ‘94, George Myers ‘95, Rene’ Plummer ‘96, Susan Bridges-Tomkins ‘97, Jonathan Lofgren ‘98, Ronda Kay Zucco ‘99, Kay Doughty ‘00, Clarissa Hersey ‘01, Jerry Wilson ‘02, Emilie Lewis ‘03, Nancy Greenwald ’04, Sally Strong ’05, James Bowden ’06, Richard Sell ‘07, James Cornett '08, David Harvey '09.
Nominate Professional of the Year
If you would like to nominate someone for Professional of the Year for 2011, please fill out the following form and send in all required information.
