When talking about his time as a tutor with Madison House, Maurice Jones most remembers the students and the teachers that loved them. “Teachers would spend money out of their own pockets getting stuff for those students,” Maurice said. “The lessons I learned from those folks were more important than any statistics class and much more meaningful.”
Raised in Virginia on his grandparents’ tobacco farm, Maurice received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Hampden-Sydney college before receiving a Rhodes scholarship that took him to the University of Oxford before attending the University of Virginia School of Law. Once at UVA, Maurice turned to his peers, seeking a pathway towards service in the community. “Service is instilled in my DNA,” Maurice said. “My folks always said, ‘If you want to pay me back, you help somebody else’ and that stuck with me.” Through word of mouth, Maurice found himself at Madison House and eventually became a Program Director, recruiting his fellow law students into the Tutoring program.
“Madison House was one of the best parts of my UVA experience, without a doubt,” Maurice said. “There were always humbling moments when [Tutoring] students made me step back and understand that there are lots of different worlds out there and people's experiences are different. I need to stay humble and make sure I understand the story that I'm walking into.”
Graduating from UVA in 1992, what soon followed was a storied career of service, with Maurice holding numerous senior-level positions in state and federal government. Maurice served as the Secretary of Commerce for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Deputy Secretary for HUD, Commissioner of Virginia’s Department of Social Services, Deputy Chief of Staff to former Virginia Governor Mark Warner and, during the Clinton administration, Director of the CDFI Fund. In 2016, Maurice became the 4th CEO of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) in New York City, where he works every day to invest in the community infrastructure and leadership that drives shared prosperity and well-being.
Now, two decades since his time at UVA, Maurice has joined the Campaign for Madison House, determined to strengthen this foundation of service in the Charlottesville and UVA communities. “Madison House provides so many benefits to both the University mission and the community,” Maurice said. “We really should have folks investing generously in what is a compelling mission from an education, community development, and relational standpoint. The stronger Madison House is, the stronger the University is, and the stronger our community.”