The Woodson Center’s mission is to empower community-based leaders to promote solutions that reduce crime and violence, restore families, revitalize underserved communities, and assist in the creation of economic enterprise.

Bob Woodson, Founder of the Woodson Center, shares the extraordinary story of his participation in the Civil Rights Movement and the “Burning Bush” experience that prompted him to spend his life helping the most vulnerable. Will Crossley, Executive Vice President of the Woodson Center and Bob’s successor, tells of how he overcame challenging circumstances and uses those experiences to empower others to achieve great victories against the odds. Together, the two reflect on the legacy of the Woodson Center’s work of empowering neighborhood leaders to overcome problems of poverty, violence, and educational challenges, and they look to the future where Will’s leadership will continue this vision of resilience, self-determination, and victory against the odds.

The inspiring story of how Black America survived unimaginable odds and an examination of the real challenges it faces today.

A Pathway to American Renewal: Red, White, and Black Volume II is now available at a bookstore near you!

In this lesson, learn about the Freedom House Ambulance Service, a groundbreaking emergency medical program founded in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in the late 1960s. At a time when ambulance services were often poorly trained and unequal, Freedom House showed what was possible when communities were trusted and invested in. The program recruited local Black men who had been denied stable job opportunities and provided them with rigorous, cutting‑edge medical training developed alongside physicians at Presbyterian Hospital. The program’s success helped shape modern Emergency Medical Services (EMS) nationwide.

Meet our founder Bob Woodson, a social activist who was dedicated to discovering local solutions to local issues