Our Staff  |  Community Impact  

Elysa joined the Foundation staff in 2014 and sits on the Executive Leadership team, leading strategy development, research and evaluation, public policy, and HFPG Impact! Greater Hartford, the Foundation’s impact investing subsidiary. Elysa’s career has focused on collaborative national and statewide efforts to advance opportunities for children impacted by the child welfare and justice systems. Previously, as Assistant Child Advocate for the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate, she shepherded reforms on behalf of youth in juvenile and adult prisons and residential treatment facilities. In New York, Elysa served as Senior Policy Advisor for the Chief Justice’s Commission on Justice for Children, where she developed a statewide court-based innovation to maximize the wellbeing of children in foster care. She also held leadership positions at Gay Men’s Health Crisis and Bronx AIDS Consultation Services, providing services for individuals living with HIV/AIDS. 

What do you enjoy most about Greater Hartford?
I appreciate the diversity of people and communities in the region and the easy access to amazing recreation from hiking trails to the shoreline to the ski slopes. Despite considering myself a life-long New Yorker, I could not imagine a better community to raise my three daughters!

What quote best represents your personal philosophy?
“So often in life, things that you regard as an impediment turn out to be great, good fortune.” -Ruth Bader Ginsburg