The Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants is seeking applications for Locally Appropriated Funds to meet the needs of crime victims, to engage the community regarding the social problems related to crime, and to prevent crime.
Donor Name: Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants
State: District of Columbia
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/15/2023
Size of the Grant: $3,703,644
Grant Duration: 12 months
Details:
Purpose
The purpose of Locally Appropriated Funds is to meet the needs of crime victims, to engage the community regarding the social problems related to crime, and to prevent crime. These services support victims through their recovery process as well as assist them with all stages of the criminal justice process. Victim assistance includes services such as, but not limited to, crisis intervention, case management, counseling, emergency and transitional housing, criminal justice support, and advocacy. Prevention and outreach activities may include such programs as community engagement activities, media campaigns, use of technology, focus groups, or culturally and linguistically appropriate training and engagement.
Dedicated LOCAL Funding Areas
SAVRAA Advocacy and Other Sexual Assault Services
The purpose of this funding is to support comprehensive services for victims/survivors of sexual assault, including advocates and youth advocates that are available 24/7, year-round to provide sexual assault services to all victims/survivors entitled to a confidential, community-based advocate as defined under DC Code §23-1907. Advocacy services under this purpose area are to be provided to youth and adult victims/survivors of sexual violence during medical forensic (SANE) examinations, at any point in a hospital visit, and interviews conducted by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) or other District agencies.
Funding Information
- The Mayor’s FY2024 proposed budget for OVSJG Victim Services grants is to support comprehensive, trauma informed services for victims of crime, including funding dedicated for:
- Sexual Assault Victims Rights Amendment Act (SAVRAA) advocacy and other sexual assault services – $3,046,467
- Victim Services Sustainability- $3,703,644
- The funding period is October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024.
Eligible Programs and Activities
This RFA will give priority to maintaining services provided by existing OVSJG Victim Services grantees. Eligible program activities may include:
- Providing professional, victim advocacy and case management to primary and secondary victims of crime;
- Providing professional medical forensic services to victims of crime;
- Providing professional trauma-informed mental health services to primary and secondary victims of crime;
- Providing civil, criminal, and administrative victim-focused legal services;
- Training law enforcement officers, judges, other court personnel, and prosecutors to more effectively identify and respond to crime and crime victims;
- Developing, enlarging, or strengthening victim services programs in government agencies or on District- based campuses;
- Developing or improving the delivery of culturally specific1 crime victim services to an underserved population;
- Providing specialized court advocates in courts where protection orders are granted;
- Increasing reporting and reducing attrition rates for cases involving violent crime;
- Developing, enlarging, or strengthening programs that address stalking;
- Supporting formal and informal District-wide, multidisciplinary efforts to coordinate the response of District and federal law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, courts, victim services agencies, and other District agencies and departments, to crimes;
- Training of medical forensic personnel in the collection and preservation of evidence, analysis, prevention, and providing expert testimony and treatment of trauma-related to sexual assault;
- Providing assistance to victims of crime in immigration matters;
- Providing housing for victims of crime;
- Providing direct services to incarcerated victims of crime; and
- Providing outreach and education to communities or training and technical assistance to multidisciplinary professionals regarding crime and crime victim services. Applications in this area must detail the applicant’s plan to provide the outreach, education, training, or technical activities. Applications will not be accepted for activities that promote the disempowerment of victims or that do not utilize standard best practices. Applications in this category will only be accepted for activities in the following areas:
- Community engagement activities that seek to engage men and boys in violence prevention;
- Outreach, engagement, and community education activities that work with children who have been exposed to or have witnessed violence;
- Training and technical assistance of criminal justice personnel that also includes the enhancement of the work of the agency and that incorporates technology in the application of criminal justice;
- Outreach directed at underserved communities. Underserved communities are defined in this RFA as victims/survivors with physical or cognitive disabilities, victims and survivors with no English proficiency (NEP) or limited English proficiency (LEP),
- victims who are immigrants, teen victims, homicide survivors, human trafficking victims, victims who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, victims/survivors of stalking, and/or victims who are a member of a culturally, ethnically, or religiously marginalized population; and
- Outreach activities that are conducted in tandem with direct services to crime victims.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applicants are established coalitions, community-based organizations, and/or District agencies that provide direct services, training, or education to support and maintain the comprehensive network of services available to victims of violent crime. Eligible services are defined as those efforts that:
- Respond to the psychological and physical needs of crime victims;
- Assist primary and secondary victims of crime to stabilize their lives after a victimization;
- Assist victims in understanding and participating in the criminal justice system;
- Provide training and technical assistance to allied service providers on the needs of crime victims;
- Provide education or outreach to the larger community regarding crime and victimization, how to reach the continuum of crime victim services, or how to participate in the criminal justice system;
- Support the comprehensive network of services.
For more information, visit OVSJG.
