Helios Heroes: Alabama State Representative Frances Holk-Jones

The Helios Alliance would like to commend leadership in this space as we approach the end of the first year of Project Persevere, and we are honored to recognize someone whose commitment to this work is not abstract. It is personal, hard-won, and deeply rooted in the kind of loss that changes everything: Alabama State Representative Frances Holk-Jones.

Rep. Holk-Jones has described herself simply: a state representative, an insurance agent, a wife, a mother — and a survivor. She lost her daughter at sixteen, and three years later, her husband. Out of that grief, she built something lasting. She co-founded the Jennifer Claire Moore Foundation, a Baldwin County organization dedicated to promoting the mental health and well-being of youth — providing the resources and support that, as she has said, Jennifer might have benefited from herself.

As she has so memorably put it: "Life is not about THE facts. It's about how we handle THE facts. Because we can't change THE facts — what we CAN do is make the best of THE facts."

That same conviction has followed her to the Statehouse. Rep. Holk-Jones has been a consistent and outspoken voice for treating addiction as the disease it is — pushing against stigma, making the case for community-centered solutions, and arguing for evidence-based approaches at every stage of the legislative process.

When Project Persevere launched in Mobile in July 2025, she was there — offering the legislative perspective and underscoring what she has long believed: that Helios’ proof-of-concept model is exactly the kind of data-driven, community-driven approach that can and should scale across Alabama.

We are grateful for her partnership, her presence, and the courage it takes to turn personal pain into public service. Rep. Holk-Jones reminds us that behind every data point is a family — and that the people best equipped to solve this crisis are often the ones who have lived it.