Bob’s Lifelong Commitment to At-Risk Youth: A Legacy of Service and Innovation

For over five decades, Bob Kurtz has been dedicated to improving the lives of at-risk youth, a commitment that has shaped his career and continues to inspire those around him. His work in social services, community organization, and educational consulting has left an indelible mark on the North Shore and beyond, influencing generations of students and educational programs.
Bob, a resident of the North Shore and a long-time Ipswich resident, has spent his life advocating for vulnerable populations. A graduate of the University of Michigan with a Masters in Social Work and a concentration in Community Organization, Bob’s career was driven by a passion for creating impactful programs that addressed the needs of at-risk youth.

In 1974, Bob founded R&K Associates, an educational and human services consulting company. It was there that he wrote the proposal that led to the creation of many educational collaboratives in Massachusetts. These collaboratives were born from legislation that encouraged school districts to collaborate to provide special education services through shared regional programs. Bob’s insight into the potential of such collaborations helped lay the foundation for what would become a statewide network of shared educational services.

One of the first collaboratives was the Northshore Education Consortium (NEC), which Bob played a pivotal role in establishing. He began the process by meeting with school superintendents and conducting a needs assessment to determine how many students could benefit from shared community-based programs. The data revealed a significant demand for such services, and the decision was made to move forward with creating NEC. A full-time director was needed and Kevin O’Grady, who was working with similar populations in the region, became the first executive director. NEC quickly became a model for educational collaboratives throughout the state.

As the success of NEC spread, so did the need for an organization to support and unite the growing number of educational collaboratives across Massachusetts. That organization, The Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives (MOEC), was founded to advocate for and assist the collaboratives in the Commonwealth. Bob was instrumental in MOEC’s early development, and he continued to serve as a consultant for many years, helping to expand the model that had been so successful at NEC. Today, MOEC supports 24 collaboratives and remains a vital part of the educational landscape in Massachusetts, with our Executive Director, Fran Rosenberg, currently serving as the organization’s President of the Board.