{"id":52333,"date":"2025-09-15T07:49:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T12:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=52333"},"modified":"2025-09-16T15:05:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T20:05:29","slug":"meet-jonathan-barona-accs-2025-community-leader-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/09\/15\/meet-jonathan-barona-accs-2025-community-leader-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Jonathan Barona: ACC&#8217;s 2025 Community Leader of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2025\/09\/RS30264_20250911-RGC-Alumni-Achievement-Awards-ca-875_scr-1024x684.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-52322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2025\/09\/RS30264_20250911-RGC-Alumni-Achievement-Awards-ca-875_scr-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2025\/09\/RS30264_20250911-RGC-Alumni-Achievement-Awards-ca-875_scr-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2025\/09\/RS30264_20250911-RGC-Alumni-Achievement-Awards-ca-875_scr-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2025\/09\/RS30264_20250911-RGC-Alumni-Achievement-Awards-ca-875_scr-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2025\/09\/RS30264_20250911-RGC-Alumni-Achievement-Awards-ca-875_scr.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Austin Community College District (ACC) is proud to recognize Jonathan Barona as the recipient of the 2025 Community Leader of the Year Award.<\/p>\n<p>The special recognition was presented to Barona at ACC\u2019s 2nd annual Alumni Achievement Awards. The Community Leader of the Year Award highlights alumni whose work strengthens communities through service, advocacy, and social impact. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/accdistrict\/albums\/72177720329006109\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">View, download, and share photos from this year\u2019s event here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Champion for Equity and Justice<\/strong><br \/>Barona brings more than 15 years of nonprofit leadership to his role. His equity-driven leadership is focused on shifting power to BIPOC leaders and organizations, ensuring resources and opportunities are equitably shared.<\/p>\n<p>His work at the Tides Center reflects a deep commitment to advancing social justice initiatives that uplift marginalized communities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ACC-Powered Expertise<\/strong><br \/>Barona\u2019s foundation in nonprofit leadership was shaped at ACC, where he earned a Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership Management in 2017. That experience strengthened his business and organizational skills.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Active Community Impact<\/strong><br \/>Beyond his professional role, Barona is an active voice in the community. He serves on the boards of Fruitful Commons and Austin Youth River Watch, supporting programs that empower young people and advance sustainability. He also advocates for environmental justice through his service on Austin\u2019s Zero Waste Advisory Commission, helping shape a more sustainable and inclusive future for the region.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about all the alumni recognized at the 2025 Alumni Achievement Awards, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/alumni.austincc.edu\/alumni-awards?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">alumni.austincc.edu\/alumni-awards<\/a>. To join ACC\u2019s Alumni network, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/austincc.edu\/alumni\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">austincc.edu\/alumni<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Austin Community College District (ACC) is proud to recognize Jonathan Barona as the recipient of the 2025 Community Leader of the Year Award. The special recognition was presented to Barona at ACC\u2019s 2nd annual Alumni &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/09\/15\/meet-jonathan-barona-accs-2025-community-leader-of-the-year\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3930,"featured_media":52334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,17,19,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-and-community","category-news-and-announcements","category-students-and-alumni","category-updates"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3930"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}