Matthew has served on the council since January 2021 and served as Council President from 2023-2025. He chairs the Borough's Public Works and Public Utilities Committee where he oversees the Department of Public Works, Shade Tree Advisory Committee, Sustainable Highland Park, the Highland Park Environmental Commission, and the Highland Park Housing Authority.

Professionally, he is Vice President of Policy and Advocacy at the Housing and Community Development Network of NJ, working daily with community development leaders from around the state to enact legislative efforts to increase housing affordability and production, close the state's racial wealth gap, and remove barriers that have historically prevented access to a home.

Matthew is also a long-time journalist and reporter and professional writer, serving as senior editor at Shelterforce Magazine, a publication of the National Housing Institute that focuses on federal, state, and local affordable housing policy as well as community development and community organizing.

As a professional writer, he has worked extensively with several local chapters of Habitat for Humanity, New Jersey Clean Communities, the Newark Trust for Education, New Jersey Audubon, the Princeton Area Community Foundation, the Middlesex Regional Chamber of Commerce, and more.

Matthew previously served on the Highland Park Borough Council, from November 2016 through June 2018, where he chaired the Borough's Health and Human Services Committee. Some of his accomplishments during, before, and after that time include:

• Information Equity: In 2009, Matthew was appointed by Mayor Steve Nolan as founding chair of the Highland Park Public Information Committee. The all-volunteer committee works with the administration and staff to oversee the Borough's communications efforts, including social media, HPTV, and the municipal website.
• Social Equity: As a volunteer in 2015 and 2016, Matthew led the effort to create a Highland Park Municipal ID. Working with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, the New Jersey ACLU, and the Highland Park Human Relations Commmission, Matthew helped to develop a municipal government-issued ID that can be used as identification at local banks when opening a checking account and is accepted by local retailers (except for the sale of tabacco and alcohol). The is accepted by all municipal agencies, including the police. The HPID can also serve as identification for immigrants, seniors, and children over 14.
• Inclusive Communities: While on the Council, Matthew again worked with the NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice and the NJ ACLU, New Labor, and Catholic Charities Diocese of Metuchen to lead the Borough's "sanctuary city" effort that established local immigration enforcement paramenters and established protections and services for the Borough's authorized and unauthorized immigrant population.
• Bringing Voices to the Table: As a result of the Borough's sanctuary efforts, the Borough established the Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs to examine issues facing our immigrant community.
• Preserving Public Housing: As a member of the Highland Park Housing Authority and later as the housing liaison on the Borough Council, Matthew worked with the HPHA and its administrative team to successfully enroll in a HUD program that allowed HPHA to secure outside funding from a mission-based community development financial institution for necessary capital improvements on the Samual Kronman building and in Park Terrace.
• Promoting Racial Equity and Addressing Bias: Matthew is a founding member of the Highland Park Equity Commission, established in response to use of force data that showed black persons at a significantly higher risk of police use-of-force tactics used against them.

Matthew has served or currently serves on the following municipal boards/commissions:

• Highland Park Equity Committee Affordable Housing Corp
• Highland Park Equity Committee
• Highland Park Human Relations Commission

He has served on the following schools-related boards/task forces:

• Highland Park Educational Foundation
• Bartle Elementary School PTO
• Highland Park Input Task Force for School Reentry

Finally, Matthew loves his kids, the Mets, our downtown, live music, heavy metal, karaoke, Earl Grey tea, and the Highland Park community.