Barbara Wallace has an impressive list of civic roles and activities advocating for women and children that is decades in the making. She is a former mayor of Washington Township (2011-2016), Washington Township School Board President, Gloucester County College Board member (now Rowan College Gloucester County) and has worked for New Jersey United States Senators Lautenberg and Corzine as well as in the Corzine Administration during his term as Governor. Barbara is well acquainted with the issues concerning the state of New Jersey — especially South Jersey. When she heard about the idea to start a chapter of Impact100 in South Jersey, she was excited. Barbara shared, “I found out about Impact100 from my friend Theresa DiVietro. I have the utmost respect and love for Theresa. She had a gathering at her lovely home and explained what Impact100 was and what they were hoping to accomplish as a new initiative. I was encouraged and met with her after that meeting to really get my teeth into the vision these founding women had in mind.”
A charter member of Impact100 SJ, Barbara finds the most important part of membership to be that it is an “all-woman, diverse” philanthropic group. She enjoys working with the members on committees, and most recently she became a member of the Leadership Council. Barbara is a 4-year member of the Grants Committee, serving on the Women, Children and Families focus area subcommittee, and this past year she thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the events committee. She praised the committee’s leadership by saying, “Wendy Frantz kept us connected, by addressing the issue of COVID isolation and how to design events around that. Wendy was a fantastic leader. We had a very engaging and enthusiastic group of women who made the year of COVID less stressful with wonderful virtual events scheduled to keep the membership connected.”
A long-time advocate for women and children, Barbara believes women have a powerful voice and are a powerful force in this country. “I believe women work well together when we can discuss, disagree, come to a consensus, then support the decision with respect for one another. I believe, as women, we should always be empowering and supportive. We should always strive to bring each other up, no matter the status.”
Barbara has lived these sentiments as a more than 60-year Girl Scout, President of a Girl Scout Council, National Consultant for Girl Scouts, and in the advocacy work she has done serving on many boards, in government roles, and as mayor. She has also been in the thick of many important social issues, serving as Vice Chair of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention for the state of NJ, on the executive committee of the National Coalition of Juvenile Justice, as Chair of the national Racial and Equity Disparities Committee, on the board of NJ Special Olympics, as well as a coach and an official for several world and USA games, and as state gymnastics tournament director and rules interpreter for New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Barbara is a lifelong resident of South Jersey. Moving from her hometown of Atlantic City to Washington Township 50 years ago, she and her husband raised a family of 5 there while she served her state and community in her many different capacities. They now have 7 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.
Creating a better world for her family and all children is Barbara’s life work and she is happy to add Impact100 SJ to the ways in which she does that.