GREEN-LIGHTING CHANGE

Omar Woodard says it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he works in philanthropy.

Growing up in North Philadelphia, he was a direct beneficiary of the largesse of Stephen Girard: He spent 11 years at and graduated from Girard College, which was founded nearly 170 years ago in one of the greatest acts of American philanthropy.

“Stephen Girard was really the Warren Buffett, the Jeff Bezos, of his time,” Woodard says, acknowledging that Girard personally lent the U.S. government money to fight the war of 1812. When he died, he left a significant portion of his money to the City of Philadelphia to launch a school for low-income white boys; it desegregated in 1968, which opened to doors for Woodard’s eventual enrollment.

“When you’re in a school like that growing up in North Philly, you realize the benefits that accrue to individuals who are beneficiaries of philanthropy,” Woodard says. “It was because of philanthropy and a man who lived in the 1800s that I was able to get a fantastic education,” one that ultimately positioned him to earn scholarships that covered 90 percent of his undergraduate career and a graduate fellowship that covered his master’s degree.

 

“Philanthropy has really powered the way for me, and been crucial to the personal and professional success I have had,” he says.

So, yes, it is fitting that Woodard is now the executive director of GreenLight Fund’s Philadelphia site. GreenLight Fund was founded 15 years ago in Boston and now has outposts in nine U.S. cities. It works with residents in high-poverty communities to identify their needs, find the best solutions to their needs from around the country, and bring it to their communities for the long-term.

Woodard’s goal is to make a true dent in eliminating poverty here, something other programs have not been able to effectively do. Unlike many of the countless other poverty-relief organizations in the city, GreenLight’s innovation lies in listening to the needs of the community, and then bringing together stakeholders from the public and private sector to import and scale programs with data-backed success.

“The community itself identifies a need, and then GreenLight brings together public and private capital to solve that challenge,” Woodard says.