My civil rights work began while in high school (1960-64) in Pitt County, NC. I worked with Dr. Andrew Best, Grantz Norcott and Bennie Roundtree to build a youth chapter of the NAACP in our county.
When I got to college in 1964, I got involved with Floyd McKissick and CORE in Durham, NC. I participated in the marches and sit-in's to integrate downtown public accommodations. I also worked as a student intern with the United Organizations for Community Improvement (UOCI) in Durham, NC. I was drafted in 1966 and became the first black person from my county to "not step forward" at the induction center in Greenville, NC. The next two years were spent in numerous appearances before my local draft board and working with the American Friends Service Committee Anti Draft efforts in NC.
From 1966 to 1968, I worked for the Youth Educational Services (YES), a state-wide, student run tutorial program with over 5,000 volunteers throughout North Carolina.
In 1968 and 1969, I worked with Howard Fuller at the Foundation for Community Development to establish Malcolm X Liberation University (MXLU) (Durham and Greensboro, North Carolina). The majority of initial building renovations, furnishings, materials, supplies and teaching staff was donated or in-kind. Back then we referred to this as "liberating resources for the people".
From 1969 to 1972, I worked with Nelson Johnson to establish the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU) to create a post-"civil rights era" black student organization. My next major "civil rights" experience was with the National Black Child Development Institute and the North Carolina Federation of Child Development Centers from 1972 to 1977. In this job, I worked with inner-city and rural communities to fight for state and federal resources to develop child care centers.
After completing graduate school in 1979, I spent the next ten years working in Alabama, North Carolina and Florida working for rural community health centers, farmworker advocacy organizations, and church-based social and racial justice projects.
CURRENT BIO AND WORK:
PHILANTHROPIC ADVISOR, RURAL FUTURIST & GREEN TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPER
Mr. Franklin Delano Williams is a Philanthropic Advisor, Rural Futurist and Green Technology Consultant for the Bobrow-Williams Group, LLC in Augusta, GA. He has worked extensively with family foundations and religious and community-based organizations. As a rural economic development practitioner he has played key roles in developing renewable green technologies and agricultural resources, cultural heritage and historic preservation initiatives; credit unions; worker-owned cooperatives, public private partnerships and business ventures.
Bobrow-Williams Group, LLC projects include local, county, regional, state and multi state-level rural development work. Mr. Williams? recent contracts have spanned executive coaching and consultation, strategic organizational assessment and analysis, project and venture development, government and nonprofit depot exchange property center development, industrial development and community capacity building initiatives. The depot exchange property concept was pioneered by Mr. Williams while he was at Boggs where over $4 million in private business, industry and excess/surplus government furniture and equipment was secured for Boggs and 10 CSRA EC facilities and more than 15 other affiliated programs.
During his tenure as Executive Director of the Boggs Rural Life Center, Mr. Williams spearheaded the development of a 10-Year Plan for six counties in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) which led to its designation as an Enterprise Community (EC), resulting in a $3 million grant. Boggs, the CSRA EC, and local counties/cities leverage an additional $100 million into the six-county target area over the first five years of the designation period. He led the Boggs' Board through more than $2.5 million of ?green technology-based? facility renovations, equipment and furniture upgrades, and grounds improvements.
Prior to coming to Boggs, Mr. Williams was Director of the Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation in Winter Park, Florida. He was associated with the Foundation as a board member (1986-87), and management consultant (1987 ? 1990), prior to becoming Director from 1990 to 1992. Before going to the Foundation he directed the East Coast Farm Worker Support Network and the Management and Program Support Services (MAPSS) of the United Church of Christ?s Commission for acial Justice.
Mr. Williams has broad experience in human services and societal change work. He was active in the Civil Rights, Anti War and Student Rights Movements and a leader in the formation of several state and national student led organizations in the 1960's and 70's. His work with the National Black Child Development Institute lead to the creation of the North Carolina Federation of Child Development Centers and he went on to head the organization?s National Affiliates Program.
He currently plays a major role in international, national, and local rural futuring and resource development as an active member of the World Future Society. The Society is an educational and scientific organization for people interested in how social and technological developments are shaping the future headquartered in Bethesda, MD. He is a consultant with Kellogg Action Lab of the Fieldstone Alliance. He is also an advisory board member of the Green Economy Diversity Initiative (GEDI), a leading olive branch organization for the New Green Economy.
Mr. Williams is a board member and the current chairperson of the American Forum, a national distributor of opinion pieces that make and shape debate around issues and policy. Under his leadership, American Forum has grown more than fivefold. In 2006 the organization won a national competition for a $1,000,000 grant from the Women?s Donor Network. He is also a former member of The MediaWorks Funders? Initiative and of the Small Town Capacity Initiative, a collaborative effort of the National Association of Towns and Townships and the Aspen Institute, both in Washington, D.C.
He is a former board member of the Community Information Exchange, Washington, DC; board member and former chair of the Rural Development and Finance Corporation, San Antonio, TX; advisor to national racial and social justice projects of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Commission for Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ; trustee of Franklinton Center at Bricks, Whitakers, NC and board member and founding president of the Southern Rural Development Initiative, Raleigh, NC.
In his home state, Mr. Williams is a former trustee of the Sapelo Foundation, St. Simons Island, GA; former board member of Richmond/Burke Job Training Authority, Augusta, GA; former community-based advisor to Fort Valley State University's College of Agriculture, Fort Valley, GA; and a former rural issues advisor to the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, Atlanta, GA.
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