Keynote Speakers Announced for School of Public Policy Sept. 1 Kickoff

State Senator Jo Comerford and Samantha Hamilton, program manager at the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, will join the UMass Amherst School of Public Policy to kick off the 2022-23 academic year with an address to inspire students, faculty, staff and community members.

Image

The event takes place on Thursday, Sept. 1, in Old Chapel. Light refreshments will be served at 12:45 p.m., with the talk beginning at 1 p.m.

Jo Comerford was elected to the Massachusetts Senate to represent the Hampshire, Franklin, and Worcester district in 2018. She chairs the Joint Committee on Public Health, chairs the Joint Committee on Covid-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management and is vice chair of the Joint Committee on Higher Education. Prior to taking office, Comerford led a crisis intervention outreach team through the Center for Human Development focused on creating a high-impact team capable of addressing the myriad and often intersecting root causes of crisis. She then organized for seven years as the director of the western Massachusetts American Friends Service Committee, moving to direct the programs of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts where she worked to meet the immediate demands of hunger and launched a pilot program to reduce food insecurity in the region. After The Food Bank, Jo led National Priorities Project (NPP), a national budget and tax priorities research organization, as its executive director. NPP garnered a Nobel Peace Prize nomination in Comerford’s final year. After NPP, Comerford was a campaign director for MoveOn focusing on a range of issues from gun safety to health care.

Samantha Hamilton manages the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts’ LiveWell Springfield Coalition. With over 18 years of work in the region, she currently leads the Age-Friendly City Initiative and the Climate Change and Health Equity Initiative. These coalition efforts engage policy and advocacy to create strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to improve health outcomes for marginalized communities in cities and towns directly impacted by climate change, and to dismantle systemic racism. Samantha worked closely with community organizations, city officials, and regional partners to designate Springfield the first community in the US to have a triple designation of Age-Friendly city, Dementia-Friendly city, and an Age-Friendly hospital system. Hamilton is also a co-founder of A Queen’s Narrative. A personal enrichment program for women and girls of color, A Queen’s Narrative uses narrative power and storytelling as methods of harnessing self-empowerment and self-awareness. Hamilton is the recipient of the 2021 Business West 40 under 40 Award and is a published and bestselling author.

This event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are requested by Monday, Aug. 29.