Lauren Kotz

Lauren Kotz is a dedicated human services and community outreach professional with extensive experience in homelessness response, recovery support services, and public health initiatives across West Virginia. She currently serves as the Region 1 State Opioid Response Programs Administrator at Youth Services System, Inc.. In this role, she coordinates Quick Response Overdose Teams, facilitates regional coalition and harm reduction meetings, manages grant reporting and action plans, and collaborates with community stakeholders to reduce stigma and strengthen recovery-focused systems of care. Lauren’s professional background also includes leadership and outreach roles with Tritanium Solutions, WVU Reynolds Memorial Hospital, Project Rebound, and the Northern Panhandle Workforce Investment Board, where she provided case management coordination, peer recovery support, community engagement, and operational oversight for vulnerable and high-risk populations. Throughout her career, Lauren has demonstrated a strong commitment to recovery advocacy, homelessness prevention, harm reduction, and community partnership development. Her expertise includes strategic planning, data analysis and reporting, stakeholder engagement, program oversight, staff leadership, and connecting individuals to critical behavioral health, housing, and employment resources. Lauren’s experience is valuable to Empower and LINK because she understands how to bridge direct service, community outreach, and system-level coordination. Her background in recovery support, homelessness response, harm reduction, and stakeholder collaboration allows her to help connect individuals to resources while strengthening the partnerships and programs that make long-term recovery and stability possible.