Robert Leon Woodson Sr. (April 8, 1937 – May 19, 2026) was an American conservative and civil rights activist, community development leader and author. He was founder and president of the Woodson Center, a non-profit research and demonstration organization that supports neighborhood-based initiatives to revitalize low-income communities.
Early life, family, military service and education
Robert Leon Woodson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 8, 1937. His father died soon after; Woodson and his four siblings were raised by his mother. In 1954, at age 17, he dropped out of high school to join the United States Air Force. While in the Air Force, he passed the GED tests. He was stationed at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, where his aptitude for mathematics led to specialized training on equipment used in missile tracking. He obtained flying status and was one of three black servicemen at the base to do so.
Woodson was involved in civil rights and community development beginning in 1962. While completing his graduate work, Woodson became active in the civil rights movement, directing and coordinating community development programs for a number of local and national organizations, including the NAACP. After resigning from the NAACP, Woodson moved to Boston, where he spent three years as a social worker with the Unitarian Services Committee.
As a director of the National Urban League, Woodson began developing a strategy to reduce crime by strengthening community institutions closest to high-crime areas. Woodson continued developing the idea of neighborhood empowerment during his time as director of the American Enterprise Institute's Neighborhood Revitalization Project in Washington, D.C. He later became an adjunct fellow at the institute, providing technical support and advice to community groups.
Woodson's strategy of neighborhood empowerment was to seek solutions to the problems of low-income communities among what he called the social entrepreneurs that are indigenous to these communities. Rather than a poverty program directed by a government agency, Woodson's program seeks out families in these disinvested neighborhoods that have prospered and persevered to learn from their success.
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.
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. 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.
Politics
By the 1980s, Woodson became part of "Washington's inner circle" and served as an advisor to several Republican politicians, including presidents. He worked closely with President Ronald Reagan and was considered for a government position in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development during the George H. W. Bush administration. He opted to serve as an advisor to HUD Secretary Jack Kemp.
On November 15, 2016, the CNE was rebranded as the Woodson Center as a tribute to Woodson. That same year, Woodson was considered as a possible candidate for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the first cabinet of President Donald Trump. Earlier, he had served as a counselor for US Speaker Paul Ryan's housing agenda.
Personal life and death
In 1977, Woodson married Ellen Hylton, and together they 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.
↑"Woodson to Receive 2024 Armstrong Award at CCU". CCU. Colorado Christian University. September 30, 2024. Retrieved May 24, 2026. Woodson maintained a lifelong friendship with Armstrong, later serving on the Board of Trustees of Colorado Christian University. The University awarded him an honorary doctorate of humanities in 2010.
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