Joshua'S Heart Foundation

Joshua’s Heart Foundation (JHF) is one of the largest youth-led non-profit organizations dedicated to empowering the next generation of leaders and addressing both short-term and long-term community challenges. Founded by Joshua Williams at the age of 4 and a half, JHF strives to empower, train, upskill, and provide a platform for youth to take real responsibility in supporting their communities. Since 2005, the foundation has distributed over 7,500,000 lbs of food to more than 700,000 individuals and raised over $5,500,000 to strengthen communities. This success is thanks to partnerships with over 100 nationally recognized entities like Walmart, PepsiCo, Whole Foods, Hormel, Sodexo, Walgreens, Dole, and more At the heart of JHF is our Junior Advisory Board (JAB), a long-term apprenticeship and internship program for teens in grades 7-12 students. JAB members gain real-life experience and practical skills through local pantry consulting, organizing food distributions, and providing administrative and operational expertise. They also secure funds through grant writing, fundraising, networking, managing all media activities, recruiting, and executing political advocacy. Graduates often join our National Advisory Board (NAB), expanding their impact and mentoring current JAB members. In 2022, we launched JHF 2.0, focusing on inner/bottom and inside-out development goals rather than traditional top-down approaches. We aim to avoid superficial, image-driven activity and foster genuine community engagement by promoting sustainable long-term cohesion through shared values and common goals. With youth as the backbone of these efforts, we aim to cultivate leadership and practical skills through real-world exposure, ensuring Gen Z and Alpha have resilient, proactive, capable, collaborative, empathetic, and critically thinking leaders. “Be The Change” because only together can we create a meaningful, lasting impact and build a better tomorrow!