Matias has been a very active member of the Black Creek 鈥� Humber River Community for almost 20 years. Matias started community organizing while at university, where he founded and was President of the Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS) at the University of Toronto. OLAS now has branches on five campuses across Ontario. As a political organizer, Matias has managed 12 political campaigns and has held several positions, elected and otherwise at different levels of politics.听
For over 10 years, he founded and was the President of a charitable organization called CONOSER. This organization developed funding for scholarships and bursaries, as well as developing academic support programs for Latinx youth in the Jane and Finch community through a program called Teach2Learn. The programs were free of charge for students of lower income families and range from tutoring for children, to parenting workshops.听
Matias worked as the first Executive Director for the award winning DUKE Heights BIA for four years. He developed first of their kind programs in sector development, employment supports and communications, with partnerships with organizations such as Osgoode Hall Law School and the Metcalf Foundation.听
Currently, as Chief of Staff for Councillor Perruzza and in his position as Executive Director for the DUKE Heights Business Improvement Area, Matias has worked on projects in the area in the tens of millions of dollars. These include projects to rebuild greenspaces and parks, public realm improvements, public art projects, public roads, public sewers, exercise pods in parks, adding new playgrounds, rebuilding libraries, rebuilding utility infrastructure and more.听
He has had a significant impact in organizing youth and children鈥檚 programs. Matias has created and supervised youth programs. These include program events where children received bikes, laptops, backpacks, lunch and breakfast programs, as well as bursaries and scholarships.听
Matias graduated from the University of Toronto with a double major in Political Science and Ibero-American Studies, and from the University of Alberta with a Masters in Political Science Theory.
Matias was born in Uruguay and immigrated to Canada in 1991 with his family at the age of 11. He is the first Latin American to be elected to the 吃瓜黑料网 in 25 years, since 1997.听
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