Roxanne Qualls - Early Career

Early Career

Prior to serving in elective office, Roxanne was the first Director of the Northern Kentucky Rape Crisis Center (1975–1977, now known as the Women’s Crisis Center, Kentucky), the Executive Director of Women Helping Women (1977–1979, now known as the Hamilton County Rape Crisis and Abuse Center), owned a small business specializing in house painting and renovation, and served as an Associate Director (1983–1985) and then Director (1985–1991) of the Cincinnati office of Ohio Citizen Action (formerly known as Ohio Public Interest Campaign) . While director of Ohio Citizen Action’s Cincinnati office, Roxanne worked with neighborhood groups and environmental organizations to pass the City of Cincinnati’s air code, lobbied the city to establish the Office of Environmental Management, and advocated for the establishment of the city’s recycling program. Her office released an annual analysis of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory. She served as a member of the Lower Price Hill Task Force, a collaborative effort to target the environmental causes of Lower Price Hill children’s health problems.