In 2003, Matt Mochary made the documentary film Favela Rising, which took him into the slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There he witnessed first-hand the dynamic that led children to join the drug trafficking organization — there were no schools. Kids learned no skills, could not get decent-paying jobs, and therefore turned to drug trafficking in order to make enough money to eat. The solution was clear: build schools to educate kids and give them a chance to make it in the legitimate world. Matt thought that this was therefore a particularly Brazilian problem, where there were areas without any schools at all.

In 2006, Matt made the documentary film The Gloves, which took him into the poorest neighborhoods in New York City. There he witnessed a dynamic that was eerily familiar. Beside a few notable exceptions, the inner-city public schools were all but ineffective. Dropout rates were over 50%.  And of those kids who did finish school, many learned no usable job skills.  Many turned to gangs, robbery and drug-dealing to make money and eat.  Matt suddenly realized that this was anything but a Brazil-only problem.

In 2007, Matt started the Mochary Foundation to begin to address this problem in his own community.