Page 50 - BusinessWest July 10, 2023

opportunities for others, and battling social injustice continued long after she formally retired, said those who knew and worked with her.
Indeed, Helen Caulton-Harris, commissioner of the Division of Health and Human Services in Springfield, who worked with Robinson on a number of initiatives and was her close friend, remembers that, just a few
days before she fell ill, Robinson was working on a maternal health program in Indian Orchard and had called her asking if she would write a support letter so Robinson could secure funding for the initiative.
“Dora started her life in Elmira,
“She felt strongly about empowering young women of color.”
women of color, teaching them about philanthropy, which was very close
to her heart. They learned about nonprofits that were doing work in the areas that they identified as barriers
to their own prosperity in Springfield. So it was a wonderful way to learn that philanthropy can be a tool of social justice.”
Robinson learned that lesson early on in her career, and one of her many passions, said those we spoke with, was to impart that lesson on others.
For this issue and its focus on women in business, we reflect on the life and career of Dora D. Robinson, who certainly was an influential woman in business, with her business being the community she lived and worked in and her tireless efforts to bring about equity and opportunities for everyone.
Passion Play
Born in Elmira, Robinson made
a lifetime commitment to social
and racial justice starting with her participation in the Poor People’s March on Washington as a teenager in 1968.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, completed graduate studies at Smith College, and earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Connecticut.
She put those degrees to use in
a number of leadership roles with area nonprofits and on countless boards. She served as vice president of Education at the Urban League of Springfield and corporate director and vice president of Child and Family Services at the Center for Human Development.
Starting in 1991, she served as the inaugural leader of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center and as
a member of the MLK Community Presbyterian Church, and actively supported the Project Mustard Seed campaign to raise funds to build a community center to serve as a place for youth and family in the Mason Square neighborhood to thrive. Nearly two decades later, she had established MLK Jr. Family Services, a multi- service agency with a $3 million operating budget, 75 full- and part- time employees, and more than 100 volunteers with services delivered at three program sites located across Greater Springfield.
Robinson took the helm at the UWPV in 2009 as the first woman
to serve as its CEO. Under her leadership, the agency launched several new strategies to diversify revenues contributing to education, homelessness initiatives, basic needs, and financial-security programs. She also led the founding of the UWPV Women’s Leadership Council (now renamed the Dora D. Robinson Women’s Leadership Council in her
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New York, but Springfield was her heart and soul,” Caulton-Harris said. “She put everything she had into
this community. Her leadership was critical. Even after she retired from her formal job, she still felt her passion to be a leader and to make sure she was creating opportunities and leaving a legacy of supporting nonprofits.”
Donna Haghighat, CEO of the Women’s Fund of Western
Massachusetts, agreed. She said Robinson chaired one of the committees setting up the agency’s Young Women’s Initiative, one of many endeavors she was passionate about.
“She felt strongly about empowering young women of color,” Haghighat noted, adding that she eventually convinced Robinson to join her board. “What was compelling to her was that this initiative was mentoring young