HCRT Summer Report

Center, Connecticut Violence Intervention Program, Hartford Healthcare,
Saint Francis Hospital; Yale New Haven Hospital and HCTC’s Hartford
Care Response Team and others. Legislative and advocacy partners
include Congressman John Larson, State Senator Douglas McCrory,
State Representatives Matt Ritter and Jillian Gilchrest, and the numerous
community and health care partners include The HAVI. On September
17, 2020, the CT HVIP will hold its first full meeting since before the onset
of COVID-19, providing updates on how hospitals and agencies and
The HAVI have pivoted to address the pandemic crisis while maintaining
the critically important focus on violence prevention. The three CT HVIP
work groups (Research and Evaluation, Policy, and Training and Technical
Assistance) are slated to update their developments – and the entire
group will frame its goals on how to best move forward to strengthen
existing programming while supporting emerging HVIP partnerships
across the state.
Doubling Our Efforts
Violence prevention is not unique to the City of Hartford. In New Haven,
a dedicated team of frontline professionals and hospital partners also is
working to reduce incidents of crime. Executive Directors Leonard Jahad
of the Connecticut Violence Intervention Program (CVIP) in New Haven
and Andrew Woods of HCTC in a series of meetings have brought their
staffs together this summer to learn from the experiences of others –
and to support those working in frontline positions. These meetings
have included The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (the HAVI)
national policy experts, who also are expert in training and technical
assistance for program professionals.
On August 19, 2020, HCTC hosted a Front-Line Capacity Building
Session where the HAVI presented an overview of their intensive
five-day training that can lead to the nationally recognized Violence
Prevention Professional (VPP) Certification. Twenty (20) front-line
intervention specialist representing the New Haven based-Connecticut
Violence Intervention Program and the five Community Safety
Coalition organizations: Blue Hills Civic Association, COMPASS Youth
Collaborative, Mothers United Against Violence, Wilson Gray YMCA and
Hartford Communities That Care were in attendance.
To make the most of our respective efforts in Hartford and New Haven, our
frontline workers are building a mutually supportive community, sharing
stories and best practices for violence reduction in their own communities.
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Ways You Can Support (or continue to support) This Work
The Hartford Care Response Team served 42% of the victims of violent