Class of 1983

MATT WILSON makes a career of taking on toxins and politicians.

"There are a lot of people who don't think they can make a living out of this," says Wilson, who's made a career of activism.

His most recent efforts are for fledging Grassroots Campaigns Inc. (GCI), which specializes in building support for progressive causes, political candidates and public interest campaigns by partnering with such groups as Amnesty International, Emily's List, the Democratic National Convention, MoveOn.org and the Sierra Club.

Since he joined GCI's Boston office in May, Wilson has been helping to organize 60 local political campaigns in various swing states for the 2006 elections.

Previously he served 15 years as director of the Toxics Action Center (TAC), a Boston-based nonprofit dedicated to working with community groups on localized problems intersecting public health and the environment. He worked in towns such as Woburn, Massachusetts—immortalized in the book and movie A CivilAction—to deal with the cleanup of contaminated and toxic soils in their neighborhoods and eliminate aerial pesticide spraying over residential areas near agricultural fields. "One of the most exciting things is to see the capacity of these ordinary people to do extraordinary things," he says.