BRIDGEPORT — Like most parents, Shondell Vann wants the best for her child. She doesn’t want her 2-month-old daughter, Maria Jackson, to grow up with limits or restrictions.
So the Bridgeport resident was excited about the CT Baby Bonds program, which started July 1, and creates a trust for babies whose births are covered by the state’s Medicaid program. When those children are between the ages of 18 and 30 — and have completed a financial literacy course — they can submit a claim to access funds from the trust for specific expenses. These expenses include higher education costs, the purchase of a home in Connecticut, investment in a business in Connecticut or saving for retirement.
For parents like Vann, this means that, even if their child is born into poverty, they can still build a successful life. This a huge relief, Vann said. “(Children) are the future, so we have to make sure they’re all right,” she said.
Vann spoke Thursday during a press conference about the Baby Bonds program, which took place at the Alliance for Community Empowerment in Bridgeport. The event was part of state Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden’s statewide CT Baby Bonds education tour. Wooden said the program aims to narrow the wealth gap and lessen generational poverty in the state.
The purpose of the program is to “focus on the whole child” and aid them into “growing into prosperous adults,” Wooden said.
Others who spoke at Thursday’s event included state Sen. Marilyn Moore, who represents Bridgeport, Monroe, and Trumbull. Like Vann, Moore said the Baby Bond program has the potential to turn things around for children in low-income homes.
“We’re looking at, from the moment a child is born into poverty, that the parent has something to look forward to for that child,” Moore said.
Moore said about $50 million worth of general obligation bonds a year have been set aside for the program for the next 12 years. General obligation bonds are Connecticut’s primary bonding program and are used to fund such programs as school construction grants, community care facilities, grants and loans for housing and other efforts.
Those on hand at the press conference also included Monette M. Ferguson, executive director of the Alliance for Community Empowerment. The alliance works to provide individuals, families, and communities with the appropriate tools, skills, and opportunities needed for economic stability and self-sufficiency.
The agency serves more than 35,000 individuals annually through their broad range of services in Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Norwalk, Stratford, Trumbull, and Westport.
Ferguson said she was excited to host the Baby Bonds event, and hoped that programs such as this one would lessen poverty to the point that the Alliance and organizations like it were no longer necessary. “We want to put ourselves out of business,” she said. “That’s why we’re here.”
