Walczak founded and ran the nonprofit Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester for more than thirty years. 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. 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.” 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. In 2000, Walczak co-founded the Codman Academy Charter Public School and remains its president. In early 2011, he became president of Steward Carney Hospital in Dorchester. 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. Walczak had proposed a three-year plan which required additional financial investment from Steward. Steward claimed Walczak had resigned, though Walczak denied this. He is currently vice president of community relations at Shawmut Design and Construction. Walczak is the founding president of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network. Walczak is the chairman of STRIVE, a job training program located in Dorchester; and is a member of the Executive Advisory Council for WBUR Radio. 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.
Run for mayor
Walczak announced his candidacy on April 7, 2013, at which time he was the seventh person to announce a bid for Boston mayor. He finished ninth in the primary election with 3% of the vote.
