Jonathon Bradley: Resident at President John Adams Manor
Jonathon Bradley is a highly-involved resident advocate and Army veteran at President John Adams Manor. Born and raised in San Diego, he is now emerging as a skilled community leader and role model. His residence at PJAM, he notes, is what has allowed him to excel in such leadership roles.
Just a few years ago, Jonathon was coming out of a difficult divorce and was looking for a new place he could call his own. He remarked, “At the time, I was staying with my parents, just trying to get my feet planted again. I was trying to find my own place to live, my own way.” However, he wasn’t completely alone: he needed to find a space that would also be comfortable for his two young daughters. While he would have been alright to live in a cheaper apartment in a tougher area if he were solely looking out for himself, he needed to consider the environment in which his children would be growing up. Fortunately he was able to apply and move into an apartment at PJAM.
Suddenly, opportunities were opening up left and right for Jonathon. When asked how having an affordable home has impacted his life, he replied, “It has helped us tremendously. Not only to be able to budget our Featured Resident Story: Jonathon Bradley Meet Jonathon Bradley who lives at President John Adams Manor. finances for other responsibilities that we have, but it also allows us to have money to play with as well. We're not trying to rub two pennies together to afford rent or food or other utilities and be exhausted just by the mental stress of that.” He even started working as a community liaison in his new affordable housing community, explaining, “Currently I am part of a Resident CORE Advisory Team where I serve as the Safety and Security Liaison, building that active communication bridge between the residents here at President John Adams Manor” and the San Diego Police Department. Jonathon’s work is an important factor in creating a safe and comfortable living space for other residents of the community.
Resident Services Professional with MAAC Rafael Monroy remarked, “Jonathon provides a great deal of support to the STEP Center staff and Management at John Adams Manor. His efforts and experience have greatly served to increase safety, security and resident cohesion at our site.” According to Rafael, Jonathon also “helped re-establish the Multi-Housing Crime Free Housing contract with SDPD and the City of San Diego in early 2016 and is still participating and motivating residents, law enforcement, and city officials to participate [in] and recognize our community at this very moment.”
For all his 2016 contributions to the MAAC/President John Adams Manor Community, Jonathon was awarded a Resident Leadership Award by the Residents CORE Team in March 2017. Rafael explained that Jonathon’s leadership role on the Residents Core Team greatly encouraged residents’ willingness to come forth, document, and report incidents of vagrancy and other security concerns throughout the community.
Jonathon has reflected quite a lot on leadership, especially as he makes his current run for the District 4 City Council seat. He muses, “Leadership is in my blood, but I never saw myself doing this type of leadership role in my life. When I was younger I never said, ‘Oh I’m going to be a community leader or be a community advocate or be in politics.’ But I have seen these opportunities present themselves and just hav[e] it in my heart to be like, ‘You know what, I can do that’ or ‘I can be a part of that’ or ‘I would like to be involved in that.’ And what is stopping me to do so other than me? How can I say, ‘Oh this should happen’ or ‘This should change' and yet not be involved in making change? For me that doesn't make sense. For me to have a voice, I want to have action as well. That's what has pushed me to be involved as I am.”
And of course, Jonathon’s daughters are ever present on his mind: “[Taking on leadership roles] gives my daughters an opportunity to see that when you're living somewhere, don't just live there for the sake of living there but to be involved in your neighborhood, in your community, to know what's going on, and that it's not difficult to be involved.”