Richard "Dick" Wolf Boone (March 29, 1927 – February 26, 2014) was an American philanthropist who worked through both the government and social organizations to improve conditions for the poor.
Boone served in the United States Navy in the Pacific, and returned to the University of Chicago after the end of the war to complete his education.
At the department, Boone continued working with the youth by starting the Appalachian Volunteers, a college service corps that focused on the issues of the poor.
Boone believed that communities in poverty struggled not only from poor economic conditions, but also from a lack of organization and knowledge of how to get what they need from the bureaucracy.
[6][7] Boone also did major work in organizing the Citizen's Board of Inquiry into Hunger and Malnutrition in the United States, which served to report of numerous nutrition problems that had long been ignored.
[4] In 1968, Boone continued his work with young Americans by organizing the Youth Project while he was the vice-president of the Center for Community Change.
In 1977 he moved to New York to become the Director of the Field Foundation, which offered grants and assistance to non-profit organizations promoting civil rights.
[6] Boone launched initiatives like US Resettlement of IndoChina refugees, advanced voter registration among poor, and in 1981 became a major funder of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that pursues fiscal policies and improvements in social programs to protect and better serve low-income Americans.