The Washington State Department of Commerce invites eligible tribal victim service providers to apply for funding to support individuals who have been harmed in their communities.
Donor Name: Washington State Department of Commerce
State: Washington
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant | Reimbursement
Deadline: 05/01/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
The OCVA Tribal Government Initiative grant funds support programs that address the emotional, psychological and physical needs of crime victims, help them regain stability, assist in navigating the civil and criminal justice systems, and restore a sense of security and safety. This funding, made possible through federal VOCA victim assistance funds, is designed to expand, enhance and sustain essential victim services. Successful applicants will receive a reimbursement-based grant or agreement.
Funding Information
- Tribal Government Initiative
- This award is a three-year (36 months) award for the period of July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2028.
- Funding will be administered one-year at a time with grants issued at the beginning of each state fiscal year. Each tribe may request up to $140,000 for the first year, July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026. Unspent funding from Year 1 will not roll over to the following year. Renewal applications are required from successful bidders each state fiscal year.
- Year One: July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026 (first year)
- Year Two: July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027 (renewal application)
- Year Three: July 1, 2027 – June 30, 2028 (renewal application.)
- Native American Communities Sexual Assault Enhancement Funding
- This award is a three-year (36 months) award for the period of July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2028.
- Each tribe may request up to $15,947 for the first year, July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026.
Uses of Funds
The services, activities, and costs eligible with this VOCA funding include:
- Services that respond to immediate needs of crime victims, such as:
- Crisis intervention services
- Accompanying victims to hospitals for medical examinations
- Hotline counseling
- Safety planning
- Expenses that respond to immediate needs of crime victims, such as:
- Emergency food, shelter, clothing, and transportation
- Window, door, or lock replacement or repair, and other repairs necessary to ensure a victim’s safety.
- Short-term (up to 45 days) in-home care and supervision services for children and adults who remain in their own homes when the offender/caregiver is removed.
- Short-term (up to 45 days) nursing-home, adult foster care, or group-home placement for adults for whom no other safe, short-term residence is available.
- Costs of the following, on an emergency basis.
- Non-prescription and prescription medicine, prophylactic or other treatment to prevent HIV/AIDS infection or other infectious disease, durable medical equipment (such as wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids, eyeglasses), and other healthcare items are allowed
- Services and Expenses that include advocacy and emotional support, such as:
- Working with a victim to assess the impact of the crime
- Identification of victim’s needs
- Case management
- Management of practical problems created by the victimization.
- Identification of resources available to the victim.
- Provision of information, referrals, advocacy, and follow-up contact for continued services, as needed.
- Traditional, cultural, and/or alternative therapy/healing (e.g., art therapy, yoga)
- Funding utilized for these types of services must be incorporated into a victim services program.
- For example, a provider could use this funding to hire a trauma-informed yoga instructor to lead sessions hosted by the Tribe, and these sessions are one component of a comprehensive array of victim services provided.
- Funding utilized for these types of services must be incorporated into a victim services program.
- Services and Expenses that include mental health counseling and care such as out-patient therapy/counseling or out-patient substance-abuse treatment.
- Victim service providers proposing to fund these services must be focused on collaboration with treatment programs and victim services must be provided in conjunction with the treatment services provided.
- Funding must support collaborative service models and approaches.
- Treatment must be directly related to the victimization and provided by a person who meets professional standards to provide these services, and these services should be one component of a comprehensive array of victim services provided
- Services that include peer-support, such as:
- Share experiences, and provide self-help, information, and emotional support
- Services and Expenses connected to the facilitation of participation in the civil and criminal justice systems and other public proceedings arising from the crime, such as:
- Advocacy on behalf of a victim
- Accompanying a victim to offices and court
- Interpreting for a non-witness victim who is deaf or hard of hearing, or with limited English proficiency
- Notification to victims regarding key proceeding dates (e.g., trial dates, case disposition, incarceration, and parole hearings)
- Assistance with Victim Impact Statements
- Assistance in recovering property that was retained as evidence
- Assistance with restitution advocacy on behalf of crime victims
- Transportation, meals, and lodging to allow a victim who is not a witness to participate in a proceeding
- Providing childcare and respite care to enable a victim who is a caregiver to attend activities related to the proceeding
- Expenses for transportation of victims to receive services and/or to participate in criminal/civil justice proceedings.
- This may include certain automobile expenses for a client, such as the costs to repair a vehicle when necessary for health and safety of the client
- Expenses for an agency automobile, such as:
- Lease and/or repair a vehicle that is essential to the agency’s delivery of crime victim services.
- Expenses for public awareness and education presentations, such as:
- The development of presentation materials, brochures, newspaper notices, and public service announcements in schools, community centers, and other public forums that are designed to inform crime victims of specific rights and services and provide them with (or refer them to) services and assistance.
- Expenses for Relocation and Housing Support:
- Travel, reasonable moving expenses, rental assistance, security deposits, utilities, and other costs incidental to the relocation of housing, including costs to keep someone in their home (in emergent situations).
- Prior to covering these expenses, applicants must submit, and have approved, a plan that includes applicable policies and procedures for providing relocation and housing support services.
- Need for relocation and housing expense assistance must be reasonably connected to the victimization.
- Services and Expenses for the coordination of system partners:
- This is defined as the development of working relationships and agreements (formal and informal) among programs and services with a role in the array of victim service provision with the goal of improving service delivery.
- Emergency Financial Assistance:
- Supporting direct emergency financial assistance (EFA) to meet crime victim needs to the fullest extent permissible within VOCA funding requirements was a consistent need identified in the VOCA planning process. Various types of EFA are outlined above (as expenses). Emergency Financial Assistance is, in general, for costs related to immediate health and safety (such as emergency food, clothing, transportation, shelter).
- Successful applicants will be required to submit to OCVA a plan for providing EFA, which includes a policy and procedures on how this resource will be provided.
- Supporting direct emergency financial assistance (EFA) to meet crime victim needs to the fullest extent permissible within VOCA funding requirements was a consistent need identified in the VOCA planning process. Various types of EFA are outlined above (as expenses). Emergency Financial Assistance is, in general, for costs related to immediate health and safety (such as emergency food, clothing, transportation, shelter).
Eligibility Criteria
- Any Tribe that meets the eligibility criteria below is encouraged to apply for this funding to provide culturally and community specific services for victims of crime.
- As stated in the VOCA Rule, § 94.111, eligible providers are those that:
- Eligible applicants for the Victims of Crimes Act (VOCA) funded by OCVA’s Tribal Government funding are the 29 federally recognized Tribes of Washington State as determined by the United States Secretary of the Interior.
- Provide services to victims of crime.
- Can demonstrate a documented history of providing effective services to victims of crime.
- Have financial support from other sources.
- Can demonstrate the organizational capacity to provide the proposed services.
- Eligible applicants must have a substantial operating presence in Washington State and must be prepared to use these funds to provide services to victims of crime in Washington State. If a Tribe does not have experience providing victim services but does have the capacity to do this work, this should be addressed in the Proposal Narrative.
- A provider can demonstrate a record of effective services and support from other sources when, for example, it demonstrates the support and approval of its services by the community, its history of providing direct services in a cost-effective manner, and the breadth or depth of its financial support from other sources. This should be addressed in the Proposal Narrative.
For more information, visit WSDC.
