When Arto Woodley came to Orlando 10 years ago, he thought that he would be here for a brief period and then take all his experience back to Toledo, Ohio; however,  God had other plans, and because of his obedience, he has been very successful in his role as president of the Frontline Outreach.

Arto is the oldest of four sons of Patricia and Arto Woodley Sr.  After graduating from St. John’s Jesuit High School in Toledo, he pursued a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in education from Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Bowling Green, Ohio, a half hour south of Toledo. 

Arto had four great influences in his life.  First, because of the sacrifices his maternal grandmother made for him, he was determined to be the best that he could, because he wanted to bring joy into her life.  (She was the only grandparent he knew––the others died when he was very young.)  His mother was the other great inspiration in his life.  She would not accept second best, instead, she inspired him to be the best.  Even in second grade, she inspired him to formulate his goals.  His ambition was to become a writer, basketball player, or a lawyer.  Next, his father was an entrepreneur and owned a mechanic shop.  By working 10-12 hours a day, he set an example by demonstrating the value of hard work.  At the age of seven, Arto helped his dad prepare invoices for the business.  Arto Senor made sure that his children worked for everything they got. 

Finally, it is obvious that Arto’s uncle had a major influence on his life (even before his birth) when he brought his mother and younger siblings from Mississippi to Toledo following the accidental death of their father.  Arto Sr. was only eight at the time.  When the Government moved him to Philadelphia to work at the Navy Ship Yard,  he lived at the YMCA took care of the family for another three years.  He was known to the family as the “Chief”.  He was a great example of a determined spirit.  Arto remembers the stories he used to tell him regarding the plight of the family and the sacrifices made.  It was quite amazing to him and made a definite impression on his life.
Alto Spent the first part of his career working in development, he was basically a fund raiser for higher education––securing commitments from corporations and such.  He and the president of BGSU also traveled together to recruit students out of places like Detroit, Cleveland and Columbus.  Arto was 19 and the president was in his early 50’s at the time.  When people asked him his role during his travels with the president, Arto would answer, “He talks and I interpret.”   The President had a habit about being philosophical regarding the reason for a college  education, but Arto would tell the kids, “This is the way for you to get a good job.”

The president of BGSU, who was obviously very fond of Arto, asked him what he wanted to do with his life.  Arto responded jokingly (or mabe not), “I want your job.”  As a result, he helped Arto get his master’s degree and created a position for him –– assistant to the vice president for university relations.  His duties were development, fund raising, legislative affairs, student publications, alumni affairs –– essentially all the things that the vice president did.  “It was a great experience for me, because no African-American was doing the things that I was doing, particularly being that visible,” he said. 

The president’s question regarding why inner city kids were not applying for the available scholarship dollars, Arto’s reply was, “We’re getting to them too late.  We should start as early as middle school.” He could relate to that, having learn to read at the age of three. 

By that time, Arto’s goals had changed.  He wanted to be a university president, retire and then work in the inner city by the age of 50.  So perhaps it was by divine intervention that he came to Orlando.  His name was placed in the pool without his knowledge.  He thought that he would never come to Orlando. 

When Arto came in for his interview, he was impressed and excited about the passion of the board for the community.  He was also impressed by the diversity of the board –– all of whom seemed to have a love for children; however at age 32, he didn’t think he would be offered anything. Yet, when he left, he heard the spirit of God saying, “I’m doing something.”  That’s all Arto had to go on.  He responded, “God, if this is really you, you’ve got to change Yvette’s mind.”

When they came here, they were in the office of the Orlando Magic.  Valerie Collins, now deceased, was the head of community relations for the organization and introduced them to Julius Irving.  She asked Yvette, “What do you think?” To Arto’s surprise, Yvette responded, “Oh, I think we can come.”  Now, he knew that his wife didn’t want to live more than three hours away from her family in Ohio, so he asked, “What changed your mind.”  Yvette responded,  “I told God that I didn’t to be more than three hours from our family and he answered, ‘You didn’t say by car or by plane’.”  It’s a two hour plane flight.

They came here to be faithful and going on the word that God said, “I’m doing something.”  They wanted to be a part of it.  The first thing that was revealed to them is this would be a good place to prepare young children for inner city public schools. To that end their model, said Arto, “Was built on getting the children in this community ready to go to Washington Shores Orange Center, Elementary, Rock Lake and all the grade schools in this area prepared, but then staying with them through our after school ministries: our regular after school Tutoring Ministry, our free Read Succeed Mentoring Ministry, our Summer Escape Ministry and by middle school, preparing all of those children to be leaders.  We tell them, ‘whether you want to be a leader or not, you are,’  and we teach them the character traits of leadership in Character Academy and give them the opportunity to demonstrate that.” They give the best kids a chance to work during the summer to earn money for their school clothes. 

For high school, Frontline provides a Leadership Academy, which is leadership, service and job shadowing and the Urban All American Leadership Institute is for the elite leaders –– young men who have made a commitment to Christ and commitment to leadership.  They work with the families of those children through parenting and other intervention to strengthen the families while strengthening the young person.

Arto believes that he has accomplished his short term goal, which was to turn the ministry and building around where it would be a place of excellence.  It it obvious to anyone who enter its doors, one is greeted with the words: “Jesus Christ is Lord.”  The facility is  clean, inviting, pleasant, friendly and spiritually uplifting.  Arto teaches the kids that Jesus is the greatest creative genius that the world will ever see and that there is no reason to walk around like we don’t have what we need, and so his premise is whatever we have, that’s what we need in that day and its our job to do the best we can with what we have.

Through Arto leadership and his ministries, Frontline Outreach won the Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builder’s Award of $200,000; They won the Disney Hand Award, and was designated a Point-of-Light by former Governor Jeb Bush.  The next goal for him is to build a world class team meaning to become the world’s greatest urban ministries––to be a model for what people in other communities can do for their own children.  He plans set up a model for a great  board, not just a good board, but a great one that spans from Jacksonville to Tampa.  Say Arto, “I wants a team of Christian leaders, who love God and children to make our team the best in the Southeast and potentially, America.  And then to build a base of support for this ministry that will enable it to go on long beyond myself so it’s sustainable.  By the time that I step away from here and move on to the next thing that God has for me to do, there will be a base of support, a team in place that can carry this ministry into the coming decades. 

So they came –– Arto age 32 facing the challenge of limited resources, support or anything to brag about, but they came taking over from the late C.R. Smith, who started the organization 40 years ago as the Tom Skinner Club.  Now, in his early 40s, he already sees some of the fruits of his labor.

As one speaks with this highly spirited and spiritual young man, it is clear that his success has more to do with faith and preparation than anything else.