John Wallace

About John Wallace

John Wallace is a native of Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood. So, when John— who’d been raised in Homewood—was the first in his family to graduate from college, when he received his doctorate from the University of Michigan when he accepted a job at the same university, he became a family success story. But years into his academic career, he felt the pull of his community. And when a job opened up at the University of Pittsburgh, he packed a Penske and moved his family from Ann Arbor back to the Steel City. 

A Preview of His Refounder Story – Chapter 4: Refounders Refine

Wallace could have been content to move back to Pittsburgh and live a quiet suburban life. He could have turned his back on Homewood, but he didn’t. Instead, he was determined to help refound his beloved yet struggling childhood neighborhood.

He and a group of Homewood residents, largely members of his church, began tackling the problems together, one by one. cHe shared the impact of the programs he’d started in Homewood, how each began with the simplest, most refined solution to some clearly defined problem. And each solution had a unified purpose—namely, to redeem the neighborhood, even if just a little. He shared his underlying philosophy, too, which was to redeem broken systems, and ultimately, make earth like heaven—beautiful, equitable, and just. And when he’d come back to Homewood, that’s exactly what he and his congregation had set out to do.

To read John Wallace’s Refounder story in full, order the book.