FREE EVENT
WA Cares Fund
Presented by:
Benjamin Veghte, WA Cares Fund Director
Kelly Lindseth, WA Cares Fund Manager
April Amundson, Policy and Rules Manager
The presentation will provide an overview of the rationale for the new WA Cares Fund program, what it is, how it works, and how it is administered.
Learning Objectives
Understand how to implement the WA Cares Fund.
Presenter's Bios:
Benjamin W. Veghte is Director of the WA Cares Fund, the universal long term care program, at the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. His career has focused on the research, design, framing, and implementation of innovative public policies that are consonant with the political culture of social policy in the United States. Within the domain of social policy, he has focused on social insurance, with a recent focus on the care infrastructure. Veghte studied the history of European social policy during his Ph.D. studies at the University of Chicago. Through 2008 he taught comparative social policy as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Bremen, Germany, and worked as a Social Policy consultant for the European Union, working on projects which advised EU accession countries on how to harmonize their social policies with EU standards. In 2009 he earned a Mid-Career MPA at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. In 2009 he joined the National Academy of Social Insurance. In 2011/12 he helped launch the Scholars Strategy Network at Harvard University, an initiative seeking to leverage the expertise of leading progressive scholars around the country to better inform public policy and enhance our democratic process. He directed research and policy at Social Security Works from 2012-15, and led all policy work at the National Academy of Social Insurance from 2015-18. From 2018 through March of 2020, he led research at Caring Across Generations, and served as the lead author of the Academy study panel report on Universal Family Care.
Kelly Lindseth joined the Employment Security Department in 2009 and has held a number of leadership positions with the agency. She currently serves as the WA Cares Fund Program Manager launching Washington’s new long-term services and supports program. Kelly has held prior roles in government at the Office of Financial Management, the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (now Commerce), and at the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. She earned her Master’s in Public Administration in Organizational Leadership from the University of Washington.
April Amundson is the Policy and Rules Manager of the Leave and Care Division at Employment Security Department (ESD). Since March of 2019, she has managed the team that develops the administrative rules and operational policies for the Paid Family and Medical Leave program and the Long-Term Services and Supports Trust program (WA Cares). The division is currently implementing ESD’s responsibilities for the WA Cares with the first part of the program kicking off later this year. April has worked for the department since March of 2008, and in policy for the last 5 years. Never shying away from a project, she was on the team that modernized the unemployment claiming system in 2016 and participated in different agency projects ever since. April has a heart for service and spent her early career in social services and case management. She is looking forward to the day where she can travel, preferably to a Caribbean beach. Until then she spends a lot of time on the Puget Sound beaches with her husband, Chris and her rescue pups, Roxie (9) and Pepper (10 months).
Mark your calendars for Thursday, 10/14/2021 from 11:30am to 1:00pm for this presentation.
Zoom webinar details will be emailed separately after registration and prior to the event.
Meeting agenda:
11:30 Webcast opens
11:40 Announcements
12:00 Presentation
