Changemaker: William Wade
William “Bill” Wade never thought he would work in housing. After a 30-year career in investment banking on Wall Street, he saw himself enjoying a quiet retirement playing golf and traveling with his wife, Karen. Just four months into his retirement, a close friend invited Bill to join him on a street outreach program for individuals experiencing homelessness. Bill later learned that this request had been quietly orchestrated by Karen, who insisted he had too much left to give and needed to channel his talents into a community project.
What Bill thought would be a one-time volunteer gig with a buddy turned into a career renaissance in housing advocacy and over a decade of service and leadership with HomewardBound of the Grand Valley. “My dad was an elected official in Colorado and imparted to me the responsibility to give back to your community in whatever capacity you can,” Bill recalled.
HomewardBound began in 1998 as a homeless shelter serving the Grand Junction community. Identifying a critical need for a safe, overnight winter shelter for homeless neighbors, a regional coalition of agencies formed a collaborative that secured space and operations for a congregate shelter. The collaborative was incorporated in 2002 as a nonprofit organization and became known as HomewardBound, now a leading anti-poverty organization that responds to community needs for food insecurity and homelessness.
Bill got involved in the issue of homelessness on the Western Slope shortly after he and Karen moved from Pittsburgh to Grand Junction. He was initially contacted by an old friend and asked to assist the local shelter—HomewardBound of the Grand Valley—in developing a capital campaign for a new space.
In 2013, Bill began volunteering with HomewardBound, eventually becoming a member of their Board of Directors and later the Board Chair.
“I wanted to help folks get from being unstably housed to achieving their goals by equipping them with tools they needed,” he said. Bill was asked to work as part of a team that served on then-Governor John Hickenlooper’s Pathways Home Colorado initiative to develop strategic solutions on preventing and ending homelessness. “When I got involved in the process,” Bill said, “I realized that just providing more support at the bottom end of the housing spectrum to keep people alive was one thing, but without a path to get them to self-sufficiency and stable housing, the solution was never going to be workable.”
Grand Junction struggled to provide enough shelter beds and affordable housing options for a rising number of homeless individuals and families. As a result of participation in the Governor’s initiative, HomewardBound partnered with Grand Junction Housing Authority, city leaders, and advocates to develop a plan to create the first fully supportive housing development on the Western Slope for people exiting the streets, known as Pathways Village. This 40-unit facility opened in 2016 as the first phase of the organization’s Pathways Campus Project. In 2018, HomewardBound began construction of the Pathways Family Shelter. The 18,600-square-foot facility was built adjacent to Pathways Village and was the first fully trauma-informed shelter facility built in the western United States. “After the completion of this development,” Bill said, “HomewardBound underwent a strategic repositioning. It was not just a homeless shelter anymore. Instead, it provides a programmatic solution to the problem of homelessness. It provides safety, services, and a pathway to self-sufficiency.”
In 2021, HomewardBound and Roice-Hurst Humane Society created HomewardHounds, containing ten Pallet homes specifically designed to provide housing for people with pets. The creation of HomewardHounds led Bill to join the board of Roice-Hurst Humane Society which is now working to develop a plan for an affordable development focused on people with pets. “HomewardBound understands how people interact with our existing society and may be precluded from housing eligibility due to their circumstances,” Bill said.
HomewardBound has continued to be a voice for creative solutions toward ending homelessness on the Western Slope. The organization identifies service gaps and community needs and works in collaboration with others to solve them. This includes interim housing options and advocating for housing supply for households at the lowest end of the income spectrum. “To the layperson, housing is a home or an apartment,” Bill said. “But we work to redefine how housing can look—whether that’s Pallet shelters or tiny homes. We have to change the perception of housing solutions.”
Breaking down siloes and promoting community partnerships is another tenet of HomewardBound’s philosophy. “There are many nonprofits working very hard on housing and homelessness. But these problems will never get solved unless there is community collaboration across different entities,” Bill said. HomewardBound shares their lessons learned on implemented strategies in the hopes that communities outside of the Western Slope can recreate workable solutions.
Now 15 years into his retirement, Bill hasn’t stopped volunteering and advocating on behalf of his homeless neighbors. He continues to serve HomewardBound as Board Chair Emeritus. “People ask me why I still do this,” he said. “Sometimes I even ask myself. But the answer is I care. And I want to use my experience to make a difference.”
HomewardBound continues to serve as a statewide leader in anti-poverty and homelessness. It has grown to a staff of 30 and continues to shift the narrative on housing solutions with a visionary example of community service. “We’re serving a great need in the community,” Bill continued, “and working towards changing the perception for houseless residents.”