Matt O'Brien has worked as a newspaper reporter for six years and currently writes about immigration and demographics for the Contra Costa Times, the Oakland Tribune and their sister papers in the San Francisco Bay Area. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, O'Brien got his foot in journalism freelancing for the Baltimore City Paper and The Sun newspaper in his hometown of Lowell, Mass. At the time he was a 2007 World Affairs Journalism Fellow, he covered the City Hall beat for The Daily Review in Hayward, Calif. The fellowship-sponsored stories on Guatemalan immigrants won several awards for O'Brien and photographer Ray Chavez, including the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism. He is a resident of Oakland.