Robert Woodson

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

In February 2020, The Woodson Center launched the 1776 Unites campaign, with the support of scholars, journalists, and entrepreneurs like Carol Swain, Glenn Loury, John Sibley Butler, Clarence Page, Wilfred Reilly, Robert Cherry, and Coleman Hughes, among others. Woodson has stated that his central motivation in founding 1776 Unites was to counter the "lethal" narratives embedded in The 1619 Project. "This garbage that is coming down from the scholars and writers from 1619 is most hypocritical because they don't live in communities [that are] suffering," he said. In an interview with Fox News host Mark Levin, Woodson called The 1619 Project's thesis "one of the most diabolical, self-destructive ideas that I've ever heard". He argued that the assumptions behind The 1619 Project are actually a form of "white supremacy" as they are predicated on black Americans having no agency and being incapable of overcoming adverse circumstances.

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.

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.

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.

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; that a better solution was focusing on neighborhood empowerment.

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

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.

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. The Woodson Center is a non-profit research and demonstration organization that supports neighborhood-based initiatives to revitalize low-income communities.