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Joshua Ostroff biography

Summary

See also Community Achievements

Personal History
My family lives in a house on Erlandson Road (just north of the former gravel pit) that we bought when we moved to Natick in 1988, and have since renovated and expanded. I am the co-owner of a research company in Natick Center, Virtual Media Resources; my wife Jeanne Williamson Ostroff is an artist, web designer, Town Meeting member, and serves as a member of the Community Senior Center Building Committee, the Natick Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and is an Associate Member of the Council on Aging. Our son Jonah (NHS 2004, Carleton College BA 2008) is a Math PhD graduate student at Brandeis University in Waltham, lives and votes in Somerville, teaches at The Math Circle and at Brandeis and plans to teach mathematics at the college or high school level.

I was a native of Fall River, where my parents were born and raised, and we lived in Providence, Rehoboth and Brookline. My late father Earl was an insurance executive and a scholar in Mediterranean Studies (the ancient near east). My mother Elaine, a lifelong activist and problem-solver, started a children's theater company in Providence in the early 1960s, received an MS at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in the 1970s, went on to work at the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, and founded the Adaptive Environment Center in Boston (now the Institute for Human Centered Design), which is a worldwide resource in the area of Universal Design. Today my mother lives in Westport, Massachusetts where she is a member of the local Planning Board and is very active in the local community.

I enjoy cooking, learning games from my son, art, whitewater rafting, writing and public speaking, roasting and brewing coffee, and participating in community events and government..  I try to encourage other people to make a positive difference in the world.

Work experience
I am co-owner of Virtual Media Resources,Virtual Media Resources, a research company in Natick Center that specializes in using media research and analysis to support change in public health and public policy.  Our clients include the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, whose mission is to measure youth exposure to alcohol advertising as mandated by 2006 federal legislation, that reaches kids, and to work with alcohol marketers, government regulators and other influencers to reduce the marketing of alcohol to children. Our company motto is "intelligence for change."  We are also active in reforming the marketing practices for unhealthy food products, deceptive health insurance marketing and other issues that relate to public health policy.

My professional background is in advertising media planning and research,  As a teenager and during college, I worked as a prep cook, deli man, hardware clerk, stationers’ deliverer, advertising intern, custodian, taxi driver, newspaper business manager, bicycle parts clerk/repairman and busboy.  All good experience for understanding people from different walks of life.

Community (See also Achievements)
Not long after I moved to Natick, I started volunteering to help where I could, and to apply my skills and interests to serve our community, as do thousands of people in Natick. I believe that government works best for the people when the people work to improve government. The same is true for schools, non-profits, charities, sports leagues, etc. People must get involved, know what is going on and organize effectively if they want to change things for the better.  Among the things I have been involved with are the Natick Education Foundation from 1996, the successful Middle School campaign in 2000, Town Meeting since 1998, the Pay-As-You-Throw program in 2003, Natick.info, a community web site since 2002 that is now largely dormant, as well as various projects with the Natick Service Council, the Morse Institute Library, the Kennedy Senior Center, NHS and other public schools in Natick, and much more.

I am fortunate to have made some wonderful friendships in Natick with people of every generation and many walks of life. I love many things about our town, and for those that are not what they could be, my first reaction has always been: what can we do to fix it? I have tried to bring that constructive approach to the Board of Selectmen.

I welcome your questions and comments at joshua@ostroff.net or 508 654-3330.