Boston City Councilor Matt O’Malley WF’96

Matthew O’Malley grew up in Roslindale during his early childhood before later moving to West Roxbury, where he currently resides. He attended Boston Latin School for high school; he says that during these years he began to develop an interest in politics. He credits a lot of learning and success to an internship that former City Councilor At-Large Peggy Davis-Mullen gave him after he asked to help on her campaign. He quotes that his experience as an intern was a “transformative experience” and is why he chooses to hire so many interns today. O’Malley was a recipient of the Ward Fellowship as well for the Former Treasurer and Receiver General of Massachusetts Joe Malone. He believes the Fellowship was the main factor that pushed him to run for office. After attending George Washington University for college, he ran for office three times before becoming elected. He first ran for City Councilor when he was 23 years old, and had a high amount of votes for a first time runner. In the years following, O’Malley worked managing Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral’s campaign where he focused on creating initiatives to prevent crime in the county. Afterwards, he worked with Mass Equality fighting for marriage equality in Massachusetts and nationwide with very successful results. In 2010, he ran for City Councilor a third time and was voted into office. He currently serves District 6, which includes Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, and parts of Roslindale and Roxbury. He has served for ten years consecutively on the council with highly impressive accomplishments. O’Malley states that some of his proudest achievements are how he got plastic bags banned in Boston and how he was able to get Jamaica Plain $28 million in funding for investing in Franklin Park, the Jamaica Plain library, and Millenium Park. When asked, he disclosed that while his future political plans are uncertain he would love to possibly be Mayor of Boston one day and he will never close the door on any future political possibilities. However, for now he expressed that he is most excited to be a father to his soon-to-be-born child.