Joseph Roberts

Joseph (Joe) Roberts (born November 25, 1966) also known as the "Skidrow CEO" is a Canadian motivational speaker, author, youth homelessness advocate and co-founder of The Push for Change Foundation. Roberts experienced drug addiction and chronic homelessness as a youth and entered drug treatment in 1991. Roberts worked in sales and web development before he became an inspirational keynote speaker. Roberts is the author of four books. Early life Joe Roberts was born November 25, 1966, and was raised in Midland, Ontario. Roberts’ father died in 1975 when Roberts was 8. Roberts struggled with low self-esteem. At the age of nine, he started using drugs and quickly moved on to alcohol, marijuana, LSD, cocaine, and eventually heroin. He left home at 15 due to family conflict and the inability to get along with his stepfather. After being imprisoned at 16, he dropped out of Barrie North Collegiate at 18 and began regular intravenous drug use. At 19, Roberts relocated to British Columbia and found himself homeless on the streets of Vancouver's Downtown East-side, pushing a shopping cart and collecting recyclables to support his drug dependency. Shortly before Christmas in 1989, Roberts contacted his mother (who was located in Midhurst, Ontario) and she helped him relocate back to Ontario. After a suicide attempt, prevented and intervened by Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Constable Scott MacLeod. Joe entered the Alcohol and Drug Intensive Treatment Program in Belleville, Ontario in 1991.

Roberts then applied and was accepted into the Business and Marketing Program at Loyalist College. He graduated in 1995, and then returned the following year for the Business Sales program. He graduated on the Dean’s list and won the Laurie H. Cameron Memorial Award for academic excellence with a combined GPA of 3.94. Due to success in business, Roberts received the Ontario Premier’s Award for College Graduates (Business) and as a result an annual bursary was created in Roberts’ name at Loyalist College: The Joe Roberts – Courage to Change Bursary. This bursary is awarded to a mature student who has overcome life obstacles and returned to school. "I transferred a lot of the skills I learned from hustling on the street and applied them to business," Roberts said in an interview with the Vancouver Province newspaper. One year later Joe took a management position with Aurora Visual Systems (audio-visual company) at their Vancouver office. Roberts pushed a modified shopping cart, a symbol of chronic homelessness, 9064 km (approximately 24 kilometers a day) for 517 days.

By the end of the cross Canada trek, The Push for Change raised over $575,000 which was directed to both community initiatives to end youth homelessness, and to the Upstream Project. The Upstream Project is a "school based youth homeless prevention model developed by The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and A Way Home and administered by Raising the Roof."

Awards Honorary Doctorate from Laurentian University Meritorious Service Medal Canada (MSM) Senate of Canada Sesquicentennial Medal British Columbia Medal of Good Citizenship Shaw Outstanding Canadian Award British Columbia Courage To Come Back Award Ontario Premier’s Award - Business (1994) Business in Vancouver’s 40 under 40 Award Zoomer Magazine 45 over 45 Award Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award