The Woodson Center was founded in 1981 to help the residents of low-income neighborhoods address the problems of their communities. Woodson Center provides effective community and faith-based organizations with training and technical assistance, links them to sources of support and evaluates their experiences for public policy. The Center’s mission is to transform lives, schools and troubled neighborhoods from the inside out. Current programs include the Violence-Free Zone youth violence reduction programs, VFZ Staying True Scholarship Awards Program, Woodson Center Fellows Program, National Community Affiliates Network (CAN), Community Leadership Enterprise (CLE) Training Program, NLDI Online and Training and Technical Assistance for neighborhood leaders and community and faith-based organizations across the U.S. The Center has provided training to more than 2,600 leaders of community organizations in 39 states. Societal problems addressed by the WC's Community Affiliates Network include: - Community Development missions that ensure issues of the poor are heard and addressed through policy and programs. - Criminal Justice missions that address law concerns, alternatives to incarceration, violence reduction, youth violence reduction, reentry, human trafficking, etc. - Education missions that address literacy concerns including K-12, higher education, community education including early childhood, GED, adult education, workforce development and workforce innovation. - Homelessness missions that address lack of housing among vulnerable populations. - Faith-based Initiatives that work in partnership with communities to improve the overall health, well-being and preservation of children and families. - Entrepreneurship missions that focus on the creation of small business enterprises. - Healthy Futures missions that address unmet health needs of underserved communities. - Veterans/Military missions that address the unmet needs of veterans and their families.