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Bill Walczak

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William "Bill" Walczak
Born
Elizabeth, New Jersey[1]
EducationAdditional graduate level coursework at Boston University School of Public Health and Harvard University
Alma materUniversity of Massachusetts, B.A. in history
OccupationExecutive
EmployerShawmut Construction
Known forcommunity activism; mayoral candidacy
TitleVice President of Community Relations
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseLinda
ChildrenMatthew (videographer); Elizabeth (Boston Foundation in education policy)
Websitehttp://www.billwalczak.com/

Bill Walczak is a community activist in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He was a candidate for mayor of Boston in 2013.[2]

Family

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Walczak is a resident of Savin Hill, where he lives with his wife, Linda. Originally from New Jersey, he came to Boston on a Boston University scholarship but dropped out after one semester to work on the lettuce boycott of the United Farm Workers.[3]

Education

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Walczak graduated in history from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 1979;[4] he is also a member of the board of the University of Massachusetts Boston Alumni and Friends.[5]

Career

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Walczak founded and ran the nonprofit Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester for more than thirty years.[6] Walczak co-founded in 1979 the center, which provides over 22,000 area residents with primary medical care, urgent care, radiology, dentistry, and eye care services.[7] According to Walczak, “Codman Square was burning down, and it needed something, and we decided that was a health center. We figured if you combine the impact of good health care and good education, we could turn peoples’ lives around.”[8] Walczak had come to the attention of the neighborhood association in 1979 by asking a lot of questions, and was chosen as the Health Center's director. Walczak established the health center in the basement of an old library and eventually took over the entire building.[9]

In 2000, Walczak co-founded the Codman Academy Charter Public School [10] and remains its president.[11]

In early 2011, he became president of Steward Carney Hospital in Dorchester.[6][12] In April 2012, he left the position. An article in the Boston Globe speculated that Walczak's activist background did not fit with the ethos of the private company, Steward Health Care System, that owned the hospital.[6] Walczak had proposed a three-year plan which required additional financial investment from Steward.[6] Steward claimed Walczak had resigned, though Walczak denied this.[6]

He was formerly vice president of community relations at Shawmut Design and Construction.[13]

Walczak is the founding president of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network.[14]

Walczak is the chairman of STRIVE,[15] a job training program located in Dorchester; and is a member of the Executive Advisory Council for WBUR Radio.[16] He was co-founder of Codman Academy Charter Public School and is a Senior Fellow at the Boston University Institute for Nonprofit Management and Leadership, a Barr Foundation Fellow, a board member of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, advisory board of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, and the advisory council of the Haiti Fund at the Boston Foundation, among others.[4][17]

2013 Boston mayoral campaign

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See also: 2013 Boston mayoral election

Walczak announced his candidacy on April 7, 2013, at which time he was the seventh person to announce a bid for Boston mayor.[18] He finished ninth in the nonpartisan primary election with 3% of the vote.[19]

Awards and honors

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References

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  1. ^ "Dorchester Reporter interview" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2014-09-17.
  2. ^ Lowry, Wesley (April 7, 2013). "Bill Walczak jumps into race for Boston mayor". Boston Globe. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
  3. ^ Holland, Roberta (Sep 6, 2010). "Lifetime Achievement: Commitment to neighborhood shaped his career". Boston Business Journal. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Write-up on William J. Walczak Health and Education Center on page of the Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester
  5. ^ Board Members, University of Massachusetts Boston Alumni and Friends. Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d e Weisman, Robert (April 19, 2012). "President's exit stirs fears on hospital's fate". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
  7. ^ "News Archives".
  8. ^ Rosso, Patrick (March 19, 2013). "Codman Square Health Center officially opens the William J. Walczak Health and Education Center". boston.com. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  9. ^ von Hoffman, Alexander (1974). House by House, Block by Block: The Rebirth of America's Urban Neighborhoods. Oxford University Press. p. 87.
  10. ^ Childress, Stacey (2010). Transforming public education: cases in education entrepreneurship. Harvard Education Press. p. 329.
  11. ^ "School Board | Codman Academy Charter Public School". codmanacademy.org. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  12. ^ McConville, Christine (2011-01-13). "Bill Walczak named Carney Hospital president". The Boston Herald. Herald Media, Inc. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  13. ^ Donnelly, Julie (2012-11-14). "Former Carney Hospital president Bill Walczak takes job at Shawmut Construction". The Boston Business Journal. Retrieved 2013-04-23.
  14. ^ "Home". massnonprofitnet.org.
  15. ^ "STRIVE Boston | Justice Resource Institute".
  16. ^ "About".
  17. ^ VivWebSolutions archive on Bill Walczak Archived October 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ "Community Organizer Walczak Plans Boston Mayoral Bid". WBUR. April 7, 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
  19. ^ "2013 Boston Mayoral Primary Results". Live Wire. Archived from the original on 2013-09-25. Retrieved 2014-05-26.
  20. ^ "Bill Walczak to helm Caritas Carney Hospital". Boston Business Journal. Jan 12, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
  21. ^ Champions in Health Care: 2010 Honorees - Lifetime Achievement
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