Andréa Comer

The path to public service

I distinctly remember my mom always saying, “You should never be comfortable if your neighbor is hungry.” That stayed with me, regardless of whether I was in public service, and it's always been my North Star. My mom was in healthcare, my dad worked in finance, but they shared a service mindset. My dad was part of 100 Black Men, and I was born in St. Louis because he was tapped to be the EVP for Gateway National Bank, one of the first community banks formed by and for the Black community. My mom was a founder of The New York Black Nurses Association, which led to the creation of the National Black Nurses Association. Today, I am the Chief of Staff to the Treasurer of Connecticut.

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I studied forensic psychology initially in college, because the criminal mind has always fascinated me. It’s probably why I'm always watching true crime. I had taken a break from college, and when I went back, the criminal justice program was full. I always liked to write, and the journalism program was like, “Hey, come over here.” I did, and the rest is history.

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I have an undergrad in journalism, so after I completed my fellowship in New York, I came to Connecticut to take a job with the local newspaper. A few years later, I was working in comms at a college when a journalist friend of mine said, “Hey, the mayor of New Haven is looking for a press secretary.” That was my first foray into public service, and I've been in government or government-adjacent ever since.

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When I got the call about the press secretary position, what drew me was the opportunity to work in municipal government and use my communications skills to shine a light on what's good about government and the positive things the city of New Haven was doing for its residents.

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Baby Bonds

I work in the treasurer's office, and when I joined, one of the new Treasurer’s top priorities was implementing the Baby Bonds program, which provides $3,200 for every child whose birth is covered by HUSKY, our state's Medicaid program. Although the legislation was passed the year before, the means to pay for the program was in question.

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Six days after we came into office, one of our local news outlets ran an article about how Baby Bonds was dead, that it would never happen. This was mostly due to political infighting. Fortunately, being in government for a while allows you to build relationships, and we leveraged the relationships we had. I called the governor's Chief of Staff, who I'd known for years. Because of that relationship, and the strong relationships the Treasurer has, we were able to find a path forward.

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With renewed support from the Governor’s Office, and with everybody at the table, we found another way to pay for the program. It really was a group effort, and it was great to have success in an initiative that’s so instrumental in closing the wealth gap, from a racial perspective, but also generationally. The fact that we were able to resuscitate it, and get it passed, created a real sense of pride in my public service career.

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I'm most proud of this work because it was another opportunity to demonstrate how government can be a force for good. Unfortunately, particularly for communities and families that are underserved or in poverty, their interaction with government tends to feel punitive. This was an opportunity to say, “You don't even have to do anything. If your birth is covered by HUSKY, this is an investment in your child's future.”

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It’s a great example of having impactful ideas and policies, but in reality, the devil is in the details. It's about building relationships and being able to have a transformative impact on communities. You've devoted yourself to a mission, and you meet others at this intersection who have also devoted themselves to doing good – and you get to do that together.

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Where the road leads

I’m thrilled to serve as Chief of Staff to State Treasurer, Erick Russell, the first openly gay Black statewide official in the country.

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Being Chief of Staff, every day is different. I have a team of about a dozen amazing people, and I'm responsible for overseeing their work related to communications, legislation, policy, outreach, and external affairs. It's a lot of public-facing work and it provides opportunities to be creative and figure out how the Office of the Treasurer can really help people in their everyday lives.

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People think about the Treasury and they think about money, and yes, we have cash management and debt management and unclaimed property, but we also have unique opportunities to help communities. Whether it's through Baby Bonds, CHET (our college savings plan), or ABLE, which is a similar savings plan for individuals with disabilities, we have some amazing programs that support state residents.

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I am the granddaughter of a seamstress and a domestic, and the daughter of a financial services vice president and a hospital administrator. I am all those things because of education, opportunity, and access. As a mom who mostly raised her only daughter alone, and based on my personal experience, I know that the fate of many relies on political will and equitable policies.

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My recognition of the inequity that exists in my state and our nation, along with my mother's words, “You should never be comfortable when your neighbor is hungry,” has driven me to level the playing field for underserved communities through policy and program.

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If you asked me what public service means to me in a few words, I would say it means leaning into what my mother told me about not letting your neighbor go hungry, and if they are, not being comfortable with that.