Board Profile: Yvonne Johnson Johnson’s work in the nonprofit sphere ran alongside those efforts, often supporting them. She served on housing coalitions and launched initiatives to provide workforce skills to young people in the community. Usually, she worked directly with people in need, whether it was supporting a food pantry that served more than 4,000 people a week or launching an initiative to reintegrate previously incarcerated peoples back into the community. This is work she still does today. “You never get rich with the nonprofits, but boy you can do great service,” Johnson said. “That’s what’s important.” Service permeated into Johnson’s family life as well, particularly with her late husband, Walter T. Johnson, who was one of the first African American students at Duke Law School and who later served as the chairman of the Greensboro Public School Board, “helping usher in the desegregation of the city’s schools,” as noted in his Duke University obituary. He died in 2021. The Johnsons had four children, each of whom, like their parents, also ended up in public service—one working for Guilford County, and three working in education. “It’s the little things you can do to make a difference in the lives of people in this community to lift the quality of their life,” she said. “That is what our motivation was.” Yvonne Johnson’s work has been appropriately recognized over the years, winning awards for her nonprofit work, economic development successes, public leadership, and more. But perhaps no accolade better sums up her work than the honor presented to her this year by Greensboro’s International Civil Rights Center & Museum, during a gala that commemorated the anniversary of the March on Washington. Johnson was honored with the Lifetime Community Service Award. “Service is the rent we pay for living on this Earth,” Johnson said. “I truly believe that.” It’s the little things you can do to make a difference in the lives of people in this community to lift the quality of their life. That is what our motivation was. Service is the rent we pay for living on this Earth. I truly believe that. » Yvonne Johnson, Greensboro Council Member NCLM.ORG 19
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