Legislative Town Hall 6.30.26

Legislative Town Hall

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

5:30 to 6:30 PM

via ZOOM

We invite you to join NASW-CT Executive Director, Dawn Brown and ELAN Co-Chair, Emmy Franklin, for

A Wrap Up of the 2026 CT Legislative Session and to hear about the importance of Voting and Voting Resources.

Guest Presenters

Reid Garnett is the Deputy Director of Field and Student Engagement at Vot-ER, where he oversees national student engagement and field organizing efforts. He partners with healthcare institutions, student organizations, and community leaders to advance civic health and connect healthcare professionals with nonpartisan voter engagement opportunities. Prior to Vot-ER, Reid worked on political campaigns and grassroots organizing efforts, helping build volunteer-driven programs that expanded civic participation.

Shannon R. Lane, LMSW, PhD is the director of the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work at the University of Connecticut, and Professor in Residence with the UConn School of Social Work. She spent 10 years working for the United States Senate, and has been an advocate and researcher on local, state, and federal social policy. She holds a PhD from the University of Connecticut and an MSW from the University of Michigan. She has been studying political social work and voting for the last 20 years, and her writing credits include two books (Political Social Work: Using Power to Create Social Change and Social Welfare Policy in a Changing World) and more than 45 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. At the Humphreys Institute, she oversees the national Voting is Social Work campaign and the Campaign School for Social Workers, a two-day training that has prepared more than 3,000 social work students and professionals from around the world to run for political office and hold leadership positions in political and policy settings.

Shannon lives in Bethany, Connecticut with her two daughters and their dog, where she serves as the Assistant Registrar of Voters, an election moderator, and an elected member of the Bethany Board of Education.