Matthew Florence Associate
From raising $3.5 million dollars to serving as executive director of a people-of-color GLBT organization, Matthew brings grantwriting, management, and programming expertise to Aplomb Consulting.
Matthew has a wealth of experience developing and fostering programs that are inclusive and relevant. While at the AIDS Housing Corporation, in Boston, MA, Matthew developed their participatory evaluation program. He also developed their nationally recognized Supported Housing Agencies Resource Exchange, a collaboration with four other agencies. Serving as Executive Director at MOCAA, also in Boston, Matthew developed the Delta Project, a four agency collaborative providing HIV prevention to gay and bisexual Black, Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander men. One of the highlights of his training experience was the development and presentation of a diversity training for the municipal employees of a town in Massachusetts.
Matthew has volunteered for many GLBT, HIV, and people of color agencies. After helping start Citizens Against Homophobia, Matthew oversaw the development of their successful anti-homophobia campaign which ran on Boston's subway system. He also has served as the vice president of the Boston Living Center and the co-chair of the HIV/AIDS Service Planning Council Evaluation Committee and Nominations Committee. HIV positive since 1992, Matthew served on AIDS Action Committee's Client Service Advisory Board, Fenway Community Health Center's Institutional Review Board, and the boards of directors of the Boston AIDS Consortium, Positive Directions, and the Interfaith AIDS Ministry.
Matthew graduated from Harvard with a degree in Social Anthropology. He is originally from rural Tennessee — a long way from San Francisco, where he currently resides.
In his spare time, Matthew writes. He is also a crackerjack
card player. Even though not a sports enthusiast, his bead-throwing capabilities
were demonstrated when he was a Grand Marshall for Boston's Gay Pride
Parade in 1998.