Robert Woodson

Robert Leon Woodson Sr. (born April 8, 1937) is an American civil rights activist, community development leader, author, and founder and president of the Woodson Center, a non-profit research and demonstration organization that supports neighborhood-based initiatives to revitalize low-income communities.

In February 2020, Woodson launched the center's 1776 Unites campaign to counter The 1619 Project.

Early life, family, and education
Woodson was born in Philadelphia. His father died soon after and Woodson and his four siblings were raised by his mother. In 1954 he dropped out of high school to join the Air Force. While in the Air Force he passed the GED tests. After leaving the Air Force he went on to graduate from Cheyney University in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and then from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965 with a Master of Social Work.

In 1977 Woodson married Ellen Hylton, and together they have raised four children: Robert Woodson Jr., Jamal Woodson, Tanya Woodson-Monestel, and Ralph Woodson. On February 8, 2003, his son, Robert L. Woodson Jr., was killed in an automobile accident. An award has been named for Woodson Jr. by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he had previously been employed.

Civil rights activism
Robert Woodson has been actively involved in civil rights and community development since 1962.

Community development, 1962–1968
While completing his graduate work, Woodson became actively involved in the civil rights movement, directing and coordinating community development programs for a number of local and national organizations, including the NAACP.

Unitarian Services Committee, social worker, Boston, 1968–1971
After resigning from the NAACP, Woodson moved to Boston, where he spent three years as a social worker with the Unitarian Services Committee.

National Urban League, Administration of Justice Division, director, New York City, 1971–1973
As a director of the National Urban League, Woodson began to develop a strategy to reduce crime by strengthening community institutions that were closest to the problems of high-crime areas.

American Enterprise Institute, 1974–1981
Woodson continued to develop the idea of neighborhood empowerment during his time as director of the American Enterprise Institute's Neighborhood Revitalization Project in Washington, DC. He then became an adjunct fellow providing technical support and advice to community groups.

Neighborhood empowerment movement
Woodson's strategy of neighborhood empowerment is to seek solutions to the problems of low-income communities among what he calls the social entrepreneurs that are indigenous to these communities. Rather than a poverty program directed by some government agency, Woodson's program seeks out families in these troubled neighborhoods that have prospered and persevered to learn from their success.

Opposition to Law Enforcement Assistance Administration
In 1973 Vernon Jordan, head of the Urban League, and Representative John Conyers, chair of the U.S. House subcommittee on crime in the Judiciary Committee, supported Woodson's opposition to vesting more power to Justice agencies as a solution to crime, and a better solution was focusing on neighborhood empowerment.

Center for Neighborhood Enterprise (CNE)
In 1981 Woodson founded the CNE (now the Woodson Center) to promote "self-help" solutions in low income neighborhoods by promoting and supporting indigenous leaders in those neighborhoods.

Violence-free zones
The CNE created the Violence-Free Zones program to reduce the level of violence in schools and help at-risk youth escape the life of violence and crime.

Woodson Center
On November 15, 2016, the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise was rebranded as the Woodson Center as a tribute to Founder and President, Robert Woodson Sr.

"1776 Unites" campaign
In February 2020, The Woodson Center launched the 1776 Unites campaign.

Awards

 * 1990 MacArthur Fellows Program MacArthur "Genius" award
 * 2008 Bradley Prize
 * 2008 Presidential Citizens Medal
 * 2008 Social Entrepreneurship Award from the Manhattan Institute

Works (selection)

 * "Red, White, and Black: Rescuing American History from Revisionists and Race Hustlers", Robert L. Woodson Sr. (editor, essays by twenty authors), Emancipation Books, May 18, 2021 ISBN 978-1642937787
 * Youth Crime and Urban Policy, A View From the Inner City, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1981, ISBN 978-0-8447-2210-8
 * On the Road to Economic Freedom: An Agenda for Black Progress, Editor Robert L. Woodson, Regnery Gateway, 1987, ISBN 978-0-89526-578-4
 * A Summons to Life, Mediating Structures and the Prevention of Youth Crime, Ballinger Pub. Co., 1981, ISBN 978-0-88410-826-9
 * The Triumphs of Joseph: How Today's Community Healers are Reviving Our Streets and Neighborhoods, Simon and Schuster, 1998, ISBN 978-0-684-82742-1
 * Black Perspectives on Crime and the Criminal Justice System: A Symposium, editor Robert L. Woodson, G. K. Hall, 1977, ISBN 978-0-8161-8039-4
 * The Triumphs of Joseph: How Today's Community Healers are Reviving Our Streets and Neighborhoods, Simon and Schuster, 1998, ISBN 978-0-684-82742-1
 * Black Perspectives on Crime and the Criminal Justice System: A Symposium, editor Robert L. Woodson, G. K. Hall, 1977, ISBN 978-0-8161-8039-4

Honorary degrees

 * University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, Honorary Doctorate, 2012 (Doctor of Humane Letters)
 * Colorado Christian University, Denver, CO, Honorary Doctorate, 2010 (Doctorate of Humanities)