Andrew Woods serves as a senior advisor for training and technical assistance at the HAVI, a fiscally-sponsored program at HRiA. He also serves as the executive director of Hartford Communities That Care that oversees the Hartford Care Response Team (HCRT), a HAVI member Hospital Linked Violence Intervention Program (HVIP) in the State of Connecticut. For over two decades, Mr. Woods has led public health-based coalitions with an emphasis on leveraging public policy to support and sustain violence prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery efforts in communities of color. Under his leadership, the HCRT became the first Connecticut HVIP to secure Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funds to support victims of violence and their families. Then in 2021,he led Connecticut’ efforts to become the first state in the nation to enact legislation authorizing Medicaid to reimburse trained and certified Violence Prevention Professionals. In his role at the HAVI, Mr. Woods provides support to current and emerging HVIP’s.