Rhonda Buckley-Bishop

I distinctly remember the first time I saw Jim; he had just come to the community as a volunteer and was getting a tour of Jubilee Housing. I was standing by the water cooler, and I thought, “Wow. This guy has such presence.” I had a sense of his strong connection to the spirit and essence of Jubilee and our community.  

When I was Jubilee’s Interim Vice President for Institutional Advancement in 2018, we set up the first Justice Housing Partners Fund. That was pure Jim, coming up with new ways for donors to contribute through loans instead of only gifts. It gave Jubilee Housing $5 million to compete with commercial developers to buy multifamily buildings in a neighborhood where buildings sold at lightning speed and crazy high prices. It was brilliant.

I still marvel at his progressive, creative leadership.  You can tell when Jim really believes in something — even in the face of other’s skepticism. He’s like a dog with a bone, and he knows how to bring people around to help make it happen. He also champions other nonprofits’ projects like he is doing right now with Recovery Café DC. (Recovery Cafe D.C. getting its own headquarters.) He’s on their board, bringing his knowledge and connections to this vital nonprofit in Southeast DC.