March 21, 2022, Washington, D.C. – Today, the Board of Trustees of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) announced that it has chosen Indivar “Indi” Dutta-Gupta as its next executive director. He assumes leadership of the national anti-poverty and racial justice organization on June 1, 2022, succeeding Olivia Golden who has served as the executive director of CLASP since 2013.

“We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Indi will lead our 53-year-old national organization into the next phase of growth,” said LaVeeda M. Battle, Esq., a leading civil rights attorney, and chair of CLASP’s Board of Trustees. “After conducting a nationwide search and assessing a strong pool of candidates, the Board and staff were thoroughly impressed by Indi’s formidable talent and skills, as well as his clear passion for advancing economic and racial justice.”

Indi is currently co-executive director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality (GCPI). Indi joined the Center in 2014 as a senior fellow and director of the Project on Deep Poverty and later founded the Economic Security & Opportunity Initiative (ESOI) of GCPI in 2016. Under Indi’s leadership, the ESOI has grown in size and influence. In its first year, the organization had only two staff members. Five years later, the ESOI is flourishing with 18 staff members – and growing – and deep collective experience developing and advancing ideas that alleviate poverty and inequality, advance racial and gender equity, and expand economic inclusion for all in the United States.

Indi has held senior roles at or advised the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the National Academy of Social Insurance, Liberation in a Generation, the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, and Freedman Consulting. Earlier in his career, he worked at the Center for American Progress and D.C. Hunger Solutions. He has also served as a volunteer policy advisor for the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and President Biden.

“I’m honored and delighted to be joining CLASP – an organization with a half-century track record of marshaling lived experience, careful analysis, technical assistance, and strategic advocacy to advance racial and economic justice,” said Indi Dutta-Gupta. “Olivia Golden is leaving CLASP in an extraordinary position after years of steady growth that has expanded its impact and reach. I look forward to building upon CLASP’s longstanding work at the federal, state, and local level that has for decades improved policies, programs, and practices for many of the families and communities in this country that have been the most marginalized and excluded.”

“Indi’s dedication to fighting poverty and inequality have made a real difference in the lives of workers, particularly workers of color across America,” said Rebecca Dixon, executive director of the National Employment Law Project. “During his tenure, GCPI became a national leader in developing ideas to create modern, strengthened unemployment protections and reducing barriers to employment. I can’t wait to see Indi’s impact in his new role.”

In 2019, CLASP celebrated its 50th year as a national, nonpartisan nonprofit that focuses on economic and social justice advocacy. We work with federal, state, and local policymakers, advocates, and partners to advance policies that reduce poverty, improve the lives of people with low incomes, and create pathways to economic security for everyone. Our work is rooted in a belief that poverty in America is inextricably tied to systemic racism.

CLASP has been on the front lines of both fighting back against harmful administrative and legislative proposals, particularly during the Trump administration, and advancing a vision that is both practical and bold. In the past two years, CLASP has responded to the immediate economic devastation of the COVID pandemic, while also shaping and implementing a longer-term agenda. Through the whole period, CLASP has expanded its leadership of major, high-impact collaborations – such as the 500+ member Protecting Immigrant Family coalition – and deepened its close relationships with on-the-ground leaders and people with lived experience of poverty.

Under Olivia Golden’s leadership, CLASP grew from an organization of about 30 people and a $6 million budget to its current scale of about 50 staff and a $10 million annual budget. During her tenure as executive director, CLASP has addressed a broad range of issues, including adding a new policy team focused on issues facing immigrant families, in addition to expanded work on child care; economic security programs; education, labor, and worker justice; and youth and young adult policy.

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The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) is a national, nonpartisan, anti-poverty organization advancing policy solutions for people with low incomes. Because poverty in America is inextricably tied to systemic racism, CLASP focuses its policy and advocacy efforts for economic and racial justice on addressing systemic racism as the primary cause of poverty for communities of color.