Matt Aronson MPP 2010 is deeply committed to ending youth homelessness. In Massachusetts alone, thousands of young people are homeless in a given year, leading to incalculable physical and emotional trauma, lost education, and lasting instability. Matt launched BAY-CASH (Boston Area Youth Cash Assistance for Stable Housing) to provide homeless youth with regular, unconditional cash payments and support services. Centered on the voices and lived experiences of young people, BAY-CASH is a model for policymakers both in the state and around the nation. He describes his journey to this work and how HKS is helping him build a world where all young people can thrive.
How did you become interested in public service?
I have been interested in “helping people” for as long as I can remember. I had terrific role models in my community, practice as a young child mediating between my siblings, experiences as a student helping younger students on the playground, and a cultural tradition that valued “tikkun olam.” I was a volunteer, peer mentor, captain, coach, and teacher long before I had a container for “public service.” I knew that I loved helping young people, but didn’t know that might be a career choice.
I also had to confront what “helping people” meant as someone who grew up with safety, security, and wealth, and who would never have to experience the direct consequences of my “helping” or be a member of underresourced communities. I was lucky to be introduced to consciousness movements in college. Steve Biko, and South African Black Consciousness, left an indelible mark, offering me the humility to tread lightly, listen and learn, and respect people before assuming I had useful answers.
The Peace Corps helped me to develop and deepen my convictions. It taught me what it meant to sacrifice my safety, security, and wealth and helped me practice humility. I had to learn how to slow down, respect cultures and histories, and authentically build deep enduring relationships. It also gave me a crash course in the mechanics of community development. I launched all sorts of initiatives: from a community fitness program and annual youth HIV/AIDS event to a youth computer center and a youth nonprofit organization. Many of them failed. Some succeeded. All of it provided the real-world experience I would analyze endlessly at HKS and that I still reach back to today.
What is the goal of your work? What is the impact?
All my work these days is in the pursuit of preventing and ending youth homelessness in the United States. More specifically, I work with communities around the country to develop an effective and coordinated community response that allows all young people to thrive, find safe and stable housing, and build lasting community connections.
My favorite project that I lead is called BAY-CASH. We are working to change Massachusetts policy and funding to support a unique guaranteed income model designed by and for young adults experiencing homelessness. We launched a demonstration program in August serving our first cohort of 18–24 year olds and will support them for two years with cash and two-and-a-half years with peer navigations and financial coaching. We are also conducting an improvement science-based learning process for three years to learn about what happened in the demonstration, what worked well, and what needs to change moving forward. When our demonstration is successful, the state will incorporate our model into its existing youth homelessness infrastructure, partners around Massachusetts will make it available to their young people, and we will end homelessness for thousands of young adults.
Who or what inspires you?
Every day I have the privilege of working with and learning from young people who have experienced homelessness—the smartest, most magnanimous, and most inspiring young people I have ever met. They are brilliant, contributing unique and impactful insights to every needs assessment, strategic plan, and implementation process I have worked on. They step up, over and over, despite the barriers they face, so that no other young people will have to go through what they endured. And the best part? I now hire and work with former program participants as consultants and peers on projects around the country!
“Every day I have the privilege of working with and learning from young people who have experienced homelessness—the smartest, most magnanimous, and most inspiring young people I have ever met.”
How did your time at HKS influence you? What does the HKS community mean to you?
One of my former colleagues used to share my PAE with colleagues! It was a little embarrassing, but reminded me of the important thinking that we were doing at HKS. I work in an ever-changing, dynamic, and multistakeholder space, and so use my organizing and adaptive leadership frameworks every day. I also started “shaping my container” at HKS—I really did come in from the Peace Corps without a sense of my place in the world. HKS helped me place the desire to help and the ideas for helping into the context of real roles and actions. It has certainly come into sharper focus over the years, but it started at HKS.
The HKS community is a veritable font of inspiration. I have classmates and other alumni doing the most incredible things around the world. And because I know many of them as real people, it helps me bridge the gap between aspiration and action. It gives me agency. I get ideas from alumni on LinkedIn. I reach out for support and project help. I find hope in their successes, and reassurance in their analyses. I also love supporting students and giving back to the community. It feels amazing sharing back what I learned from a place that continues to give me so much.