Florida native Jason Sowell has worked in the nonprofit sector for more than 10 years and is a public speaker, published writer, nonprofit entrepreneur, missionary and wedding officiant. After participating in several overseas mission trips, Jason decided to focus his efforts on local U.S. cities by bringing hope to neighborhoods through tangible projects.
In 2008, Jason founded Current Initiatives, a Tampa-based nonprofit organization with the mission of educating young adults on social initiatives while mobilizing them to bring about change. Current’s most prevalent program, the Laundry Project, assists lower-income individuals and families by taking over a laundromat for a day and covering all expenses associated with and providing the necessary items required to wash and dry clothes and linens. Another Current program is Affordable Christmas, which is a seasonal initiative giving needy families and parents the opportunity to purchase holiday gifts for their children for no more than $10 an item. Studies show that purchasing gifts, rather than receiving them for free, gives empowerment and dignity to these working parents who simply need a hand up. Current’s third project, Hopes for Homes, provides complimentary remodeling and improvement work on homes owned by working class families facing financial challenges with home repairs and maintenance. Volunteers work to repair damaged roofs and porches, remodel kids’ rooms and bathrooms, update energy inefficient kitchens and more.
Jason’s work with Current Initiatives has been featured on NBC Nightly News and the nationally-syndicated morning talk show, Daytime as well as in the Tampa Bay Times, The Tampa Tribune and on numerous television stations spanning multiple DMAs. Most recently, he was featured in People Magazine’s Heroes Among Us.
In 2015, the Tampa Bay Lightning honored Jason as the season’s 31st Lightning Community Hero and presented him with a $50,000 donation from the Lightning Foundation and the Lightning Community Heroes program. Creative Loafing bestowed its 2011 ‘Best of the Bay’ award designation to Jason as its ‘Best Young Hopeful’ for his work in the community. He was also recognized as a Fox 13 ‘Hometown Hero’ and featured on Bay News 9’s weekly segment as an ‘Everyday Hero’. Jason has received the Couple’s Choice Award every year since 2011 from WeddingWire.com. He is a guest lecturer for the University of South Florida’s College of Social Work, is a speaker for TEDx Talks and served as a guest co-host during the 2014 Chicago Ideas Week (CIW) IdeaLab & IdeasChat. Jason is a published author and host of the Boldly Going Podcast on the State-Lines.com Network and has also been honored by the Southern Early Childhood Association (SECA) with the 2015 Friend of Children Award.
In his dream world, Jason lives on the beach in Southern California and is a pro surfer. In real life, he lives in the city of Tampa where he never actually surfs.