THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Linda Waters Richardson
November 21, 1946 – November 2, 2020
“A message of hope must be instilled in everything we do.”
Nonprofit professional and activist. President and CEO, Uptown Entertainment and Development Corporation. Co-director, The People’s Fund (1972-1979). Helped shape Bread & Roses Community Fund for more than four decades. Spearheaded effort to save North Philly’s Uptown Theater. Active in the reproductive justice movement. Organized Triple Jeopardy (so-named because they were poor, Black, women), fought for full healthcare access, including abortion, 1970s. Established Black United Fund of Pennsylvania, 1982 which supported the growth, development and empowerment of the African American community. Green Jobs for Youth project, 2011. Associate’s degree from the Philadelphia Dance Academy (now, University of the Arts), 1967. Master’s degree, Southern New Hampshire University, 1990. Daughter of Bertha Stovall Waters.
Photo. (From left) Dr. Diana Waters, Dr. Sheila Waters, Linda Waters Richardson, Nica Waters, Cynthia Waters-Tines and Lesley Fuller.
More About Linda:
- Obituary
- Remembering Linda Richardson, Bread & Roses community fund
- Colleagues remember the late Linda Richardson, CEO of Uptown Entertainment and Development Corp
- 50 years of grassroots activism with the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Organization for Women, May 2021
- Celebrating Women’s Grassroots Community Activism, Philadelphia NOW by Karen Bojar, March 11, 2021
- Bread & Roses Community Fund website
- The Philadelphia Uptown Theater website
- Bertha Stovall Waters, Linda’s mother
- Cynthia Waters-Tines, Linda’s sister