Jay Wagner

Jay is a Program Officer on the holistic grantmaking team, where he focuses on driving innovative and equitable strategies for responding to homelessness and housing instability in their community. In this role, Jay partners with organizations across the metro who are leading vital work toward the vision of homelessness being rare, brief, and non-recurring.

Prior to joining the team at United Way, Jay worked in the direct service sector of the homeless response and prevention field for 20 years. Jay’s experience in the field started as a recipient of services and led to a variety of roles, including provision of shelter, street outreach, and case management services. Over the course of the last 10 years, Jay has had the privilege of providing leadership to programs and community coalitions representing diverse approaches to ending homelessness, emphasizing the centering of lived experience and culturally responsive evidence-based practices. He received a Bachelors in Sociology from Grand Valley State University.