At its most basic, civic engagement is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern.
Matt Kinnich has always been interested in giving back. He credits his parents’ belief in giving back, their inclusion, and the discussions at his family’s dinner table. He was the youngest child which correlated to the ardent effort he put into things. For example, at age ten, he planned and ran a neighborhood carnival in the family’s back yard to raise funds for Muscular Dystrophy.
He is most proud of going the extra mile, doing the right thing despite adversity, and his own integrity.
Currently, Matt is a board member of several organizations such as: LaunchCode After School, Coinifide, Northfield District 29 School Board Caucus, and Northfield Park District Caucus.
Formerly, he was a board member of Language Stars. He served on the Architectural Commission for the Village of Northfield and was a member of the Adtalem Education Group 401K Investment Committee. In addition, he served on the Parish Council for St. Clement Church.
Matt was a governing board member for Harrington College of Design serving on the Academic and Finance Committee and New Jersey’s Gibbs College in charge of the Finance Committee. At Concordia University, Matt was named an adjunct faculty member in the field of Organizational Behavior and Leadership.
At Le Cordon Bleu Chicago, he was a governing board member and chair of the Board Development Committee and chair of the Long-Range Planning Committee.
He was board president of the Lincoln Park Community Services (LPCS). Matt started his involvement with the LPCS preparing meals for homeless men and women and as an overnight volunteer making sure homeless guests had someone to go to during the evening.
Matt was named a Fellow for World Business Chicago, chaired by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, in the field of Economic Development. He led the plan for economic growth for an initiative titled Chicago Anchors for a Strong Economy. (CASE) He also developed and presented CASE’s first strategic plan which was enthusiastically approved and adopted by the executive committee.
He co-founded and became the first president of the Chicago Chapter of the Association for Strategic Planning. Subsequently, he became vice president of the National Board and co-chaired the 2008 national conference titled “Strategic Planning & Action: Driving Growth from Change.”