As a policy analyst, community organizer, and youth development professional, Michael has spent the majority of his career since 2003 working with community members, leaders, and young people in the US and abroad to strengthen the bonds of community and achieve greater community stability and wellbeing. Collectively they have worked to address critical local policy and resource allocation around civilian oversight of law enforcement, opioid overdose prevention, youth/adult education and job training, and childcare access and provider pay.

Michael holds a Master of Public Policy and MBA from Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management where his research focused on criminal justice reform and alternatives to policing. Before coming to OPAT, he served as a researcher and policy analyst for Brockton Interfaith Community’s DARRC Coalition focusing primarily on their campaign for the creation of a civilian review board for the Brockton Police Department. 

Michael spent nearly five years as a Family and Community Engagement Specialist in New York City Community Schools. As an organizer and then as the Public Housing Coordinator for New York City Participatory Budgeting, he partnered with the offices of city councilors, tenant associations, and community groups across the city to mobilize thousands of community members including youth age 12 and up to vote for their community’s priorities in years three and four of the burgeoning initiative. 

Cities Michael has called home include Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Varanasi, India. His other interests include listening to, attending, and sometimes making music, playing and watching sports with a particular passion for baseball/softball and the Philadelphia Phillies and Eagles, and spending time outside and in nature and with his family and loved ones.