Join us to hear about the Baby Bonds program and how it will bring greater equity to children and families in Eastern Connecticut and help end child poverty.
Guest Speakers:
Economist Darrick Hamilton of The New School
and
Connecticut State Treasurer Erick Russell
Conversation Facilitator: Attorney Nilda Rodriguez Havrilla, Connecticut Legal Services
About the Speakers:
Darrick Hamilton is the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy and the founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School.
Hamilton has been involved in crafting policy proposals, such as Baby Bonds and a Federal Job Guarantee, which have garnered a great deal of media attention and served as inspirations for legislative proposals at the federal, state and local levels.
He has served as a member of the economic committee of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force and testified before several senate and house committees. Hamilton was an advisor for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign and has advised numerous other leading Members of Congress, as well as various 2020 presidential candidates.
Listen to Darrick Hamilton interviewed on The Ezra Klein Show.
Erick Russell was sworn in as Connecticut’s 84th State Treasurer on January 4, 2023.
As treasurer, Russell administers Connecticut’s pension funds holding over $50 billion in assets, oversees the state’s debt and cash management, collects and returns unclaimed property, and manages the Connecticut Higher Education Trust (CHET), a 529 plan that helps students and families save for higher education. In his first term, Russell successfully secured funding to launch CT Baby Bonds, a first-in-the-nation program to combat generational poverty. The program saw its first eligible participants born on July 1, 2023.
Russell continues to advocate for people traditionally left out of the political process and denied economic opportunity. He is prioritizing financial literacy, sound fiscal policy and necessary statewide investments that maximize resources while growing the economy and combating systemic inequities.