This article appeared on SouthCoast247.com

Looking To Do Better: Mayoral Candidate Matt Morrissey
By Brooke Boucher, southcoast247.com correspondent

Most of you know that the mayoral primaries are coming up on October 4th; what may not know is whom you are going to vote for. Don't be ashamed. I don't know either. But what I DO know is that getting the skinny on the candidates is vital. That's why I sat down with Matt Morrissey to discuss his background, qualifications, and, most importantly, his vision for the future of this wonderful city.

Matt was born and raised in the North End of New Bedford. He proudly represents the fifth generation of his family to reside in the New Bedford area. He attended local schools including St. Joseph's School, Greater New Bedford Regional Voc-Tech, and is also an alumnus of UMass Dartmouth.

Following his college graduation, Matt's belief in the importance of education led him to a post on the 5-Campus University of Massachusetts leadership team working in the office of the UMass president. But Matt had dreams of being an entrepreneur that eventually led him to become a founding member of Mogall.com, a company that aimed to network people with similar interests and put them in contact with one another in order to conduct business.

While working for Mogall.com, Matt was offered another impressive job by one of Mogall's top clients. So for the next several years, he worked as senior consultant for The Public Consulting Group.

Matt's most recent job was working as the assistant to the Chancellor at UMass Dartmouth. He played an integral role for the chancellor on organizational development, and community and government relations for an institution with a budget of over $100 million, and a university community of 10,000 people. It should also be noted that Matt played a leadership role in the development and implementation of the plan to merge UMass Dartmouth, with the Southern New England School of Law.

With all of these enriching experiences under his belt, Matt Morrissey has a progressive and innovative vision of the future for New Bedford. Matt is running on a platform that is focused on reorganizing and revitalizing the way local government is run, with an enormous focus on local youth, local business, and most importantly, local voices.

He's looking to take the existing framework in the city and build upon it, in order to help the city realize it's over all potential for greatness. If elected, Matt hopes to show people that they can believe in the city and government again. He speaks with gusto about making our streets safer, creating quality, not just quantity, jobs, and further facilitating quality education for students.

Matt has also recently announced the creation of an issues steering committee that includes a former mayor, one of the city's top business leaders, an innovative union organizer, and several neighborhood activists, that will help him craft innovative solutions to the challenges confronting New Bedford, while identifying new opportunities for cultural and economic growth.

He is a man that openly admits that he may not always have all the answers. However, this issues steering committee is an example of his willingness to go into the diverse communities of the city and try to come up with answers that better serve the people of New Bedford. This is a man who wants to show that a mayor is not an elected king, but a servant of his constituents.

He has publicly asked citizens to come to his website, and voice their concerns and ideas so that all are included in the planning for the future. Matt Morrissey touts, 'We Can do better, we must do better, we will do better,' and so far, he has hit the mark. His innovative ideas are proving to be a breath of fresh air.

This article appeared on SouthCoast247.com