Austin is a proud Trentonian born and raised in the City.  With humble beginnings in his childhood home on Rutherford Avenue and church home of Little Light True Gospel Church, he learned the value of caring for his community and its people, finding joy in helping address the issues facing neighbors, friends, family, and other community members.

His work experience includes positions at Capitol Hill, the United States Coast Guard, the Federal Judiciary, multiple federal agencies, and Ernst & Young. He returned to Trenton to work with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office to reform police/community relations as well as state financial laws.  He works as legal and policy expert to build a more just and equitable New Jersey for all.  Austin holds a law degree from Howard University and a Masters of Domestic and Public Policy from Princeton University.

Austin actively volunteers with numerous organizations including the Howard University Alumni Club of Metropolitan Trenton (Go Bison!), Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Lambda Lambda Sigma Chapter, and the Trenton Urban League Guild. He is also a New Leaders Council and New Jersey LEAD graduate.  He serves as President of the local Trenton NAACP which uses its strong civil rights legacy in serving all of Mercer County to end poverty, improve housing stock, improve health outcomes, fight for a more environmentally just society, and return and restore our citizens back into the community, among many other bold and important  initiatives. He is most proud to provide scholarships to local kids to help them achieve their full academic potential, to create and celebrate diverse spaces for youth of all ages to excel, to produce life-changing alternatives to the school/drug/prison pipeline, and to illustrate to the community the young scholars we have in our very midst.   And this year he is running for re-election to his current school board seat to continue to use his time and talents to benefit the children and families in his community.

He specifically lives in Trenton on one of the big houses on the Bellevue Avenue hill that he always dreamed of living in while growing up on with his wife Natalie, his newborn Maya, and their greyhound Grace.  Finally, he loves to throw the best backyard BBQs!