Lorena Mitchell

Lorena Mitchell serves as Coordinator for Community Mental Health Initiatives at the Community Services Administration of New Haven, Connecticut, where she plays a central role in designing and procuring trauma-informed, community-based services aimed at reducing interpersonal violence and housing instability. She leads the acquisition of integrated support programs that connect at-risk populations with mental health counseling, crisis intervention, employment assistance, and safe housing resources. Her procurement activities are aligned with the agency’s mission to deliver outcomes-driven, preventive services that mitigate firearm-related injuries and foster long-term community resilience. Mitchell primarily manages service-based contracts under the Other Individual and Family Services category, ensuring alignment with evidence-based practices in behavioral health and social service delivery. Mitchell collaborates with a diverse array of nonprofit service providers, community-based organizations, and behavioral health clinics that deliver direct client services. Her working relationships are characterized by long-term, performance-based partnerships with organizations that demonstrate capacity for trauma-informed care, cultural competency, and data-driven program evaluation. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she prioritizes vendors with proven track records in delivering wraparound services to vulnerable populations, often engaging organizations with deep roots in New Haven’s neighborhoods. Mitchell’s contracting approach reflects a strong preference for open competition, with 100% of her acquisitions classified as “No Set-Aside.” She does not routinely utilize socioeconomic set-asides such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB programs, instead focusing on capability, outcomes, and service alignment as the primary selection criteria. Her procurement strategy emphasizes program effectiveness over socioeconomic classification, though she remains open to qualified small businesses that meet rigorous performance benchmarks. Her primary procurement focus is on NAICS 624190—Other Individual and Family Services—encompassing mental health outreach, violence prevention programming, case management, and housing stabilization services. She specializes in acquiring scalable, community-embedded interventions that integrate behavioral health with social support systems, demonstrating deep expertise in the operational delivery of trauma-informed care and population-specific service models.