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An advocate for troubled youth, abused women and a champion of environmental causes is leaving Douglas County.
by Stacy D. StumboAn advocate for troubled youth, abused women and a champion of environmental causes is leaving Douglas County.
After 16 years as executive director of Winston's Riverside Center, an adolescent and child day-treatment and educational facility, Joe Roszak is leaving to start a job as executive director of Oswego County Opportunities Inc. in Fulton, N.Y.
Gloria Thompson, chairwoman of the center's board of directors, said Roszak's departure will leave a void.
"We all just think he's fantastic," she said. "He will be a hard man to replace."
When he accepted a grant check from the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation last week, Roszak said it struck him how near his final day -- Feb. 18 -- is.
"Every day, things happen that I know I won't ever be doing again," he said. "The reality is setting in and it's difficult."
Thompson said the Riverside Center started about 18 years ago in the basement of a local doctor's house. A local committee formed and conducted a study that showed at least 300 Douglas County juveniles were severely emotionally disturbed.
Children with problems often exhibit behaviors that interfere with their abilities to function at home, school, with peers, or the public at large. They show a lack of self-control, throw temper tantrums, behave aggressively, are destructive and withdrawn.
"These were kids that were so severely disturbed that schools could no longer handle them," Thompson said. "However, they were not disturbed enough to be institutionalized."
The center had gone through two directors in as many years and was struggling.
That's where Roszak came in.
Raised in Sheboygan, Wis., he received bachelor's degrees in psychology and sociology from the University of Wisconsin, and master's degrees in sociology and community development from Southern Illinois University. He worked his way through school in human services jobs that led him to Illinois, Kansas, Idaho and, finally, Oregon.
"I rode here with nothing more than a pickup truck with everything I owned in back," said Roszak, who was 29 then and is now 45 years old.
Roszak said the Riverside Center was an ideal place to work because it offered individual treatment plans for each child and his or her family, utilizing therapy, education and community resources.
"It's been an important part in the evolution in my philosophy, or mission in life," he said. "I really believe in keeping families and children together."
Thompson said when the program began, it had only 15 students. Today, about 40 are enrolled. She admires Roszak's commitment to children.
"He's more than an administrator who runs a business," Thompson said. "He knows every child and where they are in their treatment. He really cares."
His interest in family spills over into his personal life.
Roszak met his wife Amy in Oregon. She worked for the U.S. Forest Service before receiving an advanced certification in mathematics to become a teacher in public schools.
He proposed to the New York native atop Mount Bailey near Diamond Lake. The two have been married for eight years. She left teaching after they decided to raise a family. Today, the Roszaks have two sons -- Corben, 4, and Madison, 2.
"She's just a phenomenal left-brained person," Roszak said of his wife. "She's not only a mother. She's a business owner and entrepreneur."
Recently, Amy Roszak started her own company called ScraPerfect and has become an inventor of creative tools for scrapbooking.
For the past two years, Joe Roszak has served as board president for Battered Persons' Advocacy, a local organization that focuses on victims of domestic violence. He said his interest in the group is born out of an understanding that some abuse and mental illness in children are linked.
"(BPA) is creating a safe and secure community for our families," he said. "Douglas County has a tremendous need for that."
His civic involvement has also included vice chairmanship of the Winston Area Community Partnership and the Douglas County Employer Council, which he served with for 15 years.
"I really believe that any improvement in our local economy will be a benefit to our quality of life in our community," he said. "There is substantial research showing the correlation between an increase in unemployment rates and parallel increases in drug abuse, domestic violence, child abuse and other social ills. DCEC has made me a better employer and more skilled manager."
Roszak and his wife have also been vocal opponents of extensive residential development in Ramp Canyon. More than a decade ago, the 652-acre property, near the eastern city limits of Roseburg, was purchased by a group hoping to create an outdoor education laboratory and public park.
Roszak was chair of the Ramp Canyon board. Funding could not be secured and the property reverted to previous owners.
The Roszaks live on Sharon Avenue, near Ramp Canyon. The couple worry that the wrong kind of development could negatively influence wildlife, fish habitat, water quality and wetland preservation. Although they may be leaving, Roszak feels confident his neighbors will fight for what's right for the area.
The New York organization Roszak is moving to has seven divisions, including medical, educational, nutritional, residential, transportation and counseling services. He will oversee more than 600 staff members.
Roszak likens Oswego County Opportunities to Douglas County's Umpqua Community Action Network, a private nonprofit organization that works to alleviate poverty through food, residential, electric and early education programs for low-income families.
Although he's sad to be leaving, Roszak said he and his wife felt that professionally and personally it would be a good idea to move to the East Coast. Both the Roszaks' parents are over 70, and they'd like their children to get to know their grandparents.
He plans to return to Oregon's mild climate once he retires.
"I don't want to be shoveling snow when I'm old," he quipped.
Heading east
After 16 years as executive director of the Riverside Center in Winston, Joe Roszak is resigning to take a job as executive director of Oswego County Opportuities Inc. in Fulton, N.Y., a nonprofit organization that works to alleviate poverty.
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