(PORTLAND) — Jay Williams is a dad of two girls, a football coach, a husband, and a "regular ol' guy." He wears multiple hats, but his servitude to the Portland community and its youths is the hat he wears with the most pride.
"I'm a person who really doesn't need much. I would give the shirt off my back to other people so they would have," Williams said. "I'm not a material person. I'm someone who wants the best for everyone."
As president and CEO of Portland Activities and Athletics League — formerly the Police Activities League — he's partnered with the NFL and NBA to provide hundreds of youths with free programs.
"I want our neighborhood to be a safe environment, healthy, and a great quality of life for all kids, all community members," Williams said.
Williams grew up in Florida but has been in the Portland community since 2005. A scholarship to Portland State University brought him to the Pacific Northwest. Just six months ago, he was hired as the head football coach at David-Douglas High School.
He envisions a healthy environment as someone kids can talk to, parents can talk to, and who gives a helping hand to all people in the community.
Brad Joy, the school's athletics director, said Williams has been triumphant in meeting those goals — as the person who nominated him.
"There isn't anything he isn't willing to do to help our kids," Joy said.
As years pass, Williams and his family — his wife, Jamila, and daughters, 10-year-old Jenna and 9-year-old Jordyn — have witnessed changing demographics.
Williams said the community has nearly 85% of students on free or reduced lunches; he watches parents work swing and graveyard shifts just to get by.
"(The kids) need lots of people like a village," Williams said.
It took a village to help Williams grow up. Moving to Portland highlighted a "void" of missing support and programs for youth, the kind Williams relied on growing up in Florida, where his teenage mother raised him.
"I felt like that void needed to be filled in our community," Williams said.
Football helped him succeed in part. Without it, he feels he wouldn't have learned or accomplished many things in his life. It also taught him how to cope.
Nothing he tells the kids he works with is just a story, "I'm telling them my story. This is a story I live," he said.
Football isn't just about scoring touchdowns for Williams. It's an opportunity to learn life lessons like how to overcome adversity through hard work, discipline and effort.
But he's not just glued to the field.
Williams is actively involved in the students' lives—checking in, creating goal plans, keeping parents informed of student behavior and learning about a student's home life.
"I am from the community, so I see a lot of the people in the community. When they hurt, I hurt. We feel the same pain. I hear the same gunshots. I hear the same things that they they hear, and just being there for them and being able to comfort them and being able to connect them with the resources," Williams said of his efforts at school.
While he doesn't have all the answers or all the resources, he does have the capability to connect kids with the help they need.
"I know all the violence isn't going to stop. I know all the poverty isn't going to stop. I know all the houselessness — none of that stuff is going to stop. But, I can't just sit back and not do anything and not help people," Williams said.
It's important to Williams to be nondiscriminatory. If someone says they need help, they get helped.
"You may have a lot of money to pay for through things, but are you happy? Are you mentally happy? Mental health is big in our community," Williams said. "Just because you have, that doesn't mean you might not be going through it."
At the end of the day, Williams wants to see students walk across the stage. That's where he finds gratitude, in knowing they've made it despite their circumstances.
Williams said, "I don't have to be front and center to make an impact. I can make an impact from the background."
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