OVC FY 2022 Protecting Futures: Building Capacity to Service Children and Youth Impacted by America's Drug Crisis

Substance use in the family or community can lead to compounding harm for children, youth, and families. Services to prevent or alleviate such harm are most effective when they are evidence-based; tailored to the child or youth, family, and community; and offered through trusted relationships. Community partnerships are equally important to meet the complex service needs of youth whose exposure to drug use leads to victimization, resulting from sexual and/or physical abuse and family violence. Those who have experienced polyvictimizaton are in particular need of services.

The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) supports the development of such services through its capacity-building program, Protecting Futures: Building Capacity to Serve Children and Youth Impacted by America’s Drug Crisis, which offers training and technical assistance (TTA) to organizations, prioritizing culturally specific organizations, including child advocacy centers, civil legal services, community-based behavioral health services, and other community organizations that work together to offer a continuum of services to young people at risk from drug-related crime.

Based on our work as the TTA provider in prior iterations of this program, serving 76 grantees across 37 states in 3 cohorts, JBS International, Inc. (JBS) stands ready to expedite the process of engaging with up to 14 subawardees. Our 36+ years as a TTA provider on a variety of federal human services programs fully positions us to provide guidance and oversight for subawardees’ implementation of innovative program models. Using a structured approach, we will support subawardees through universal and targeted TTA, regional meetings, and numerous products. With our TTA support, subawardees will launch and refine their service offerings; effectively manage data collection, evaluation, and finances; and make iterative, data-based improvements to service offerings.

Aligned with Executive Order 13985, OVC requires that TTA build capacity to identify, engage, and serve young people whose environments make them particularly vulnerable to harm from drug-related crime because of racism, discrimination, and unequal access to social determinants of health (e.g., education, employment, healthy environments, housing, transportation). Furthermore, OVC is intent on equitably serving youth in underserved and historically marginalized communities, including rural and tribal communities.

JBS is fully committed to these goals. Building on our many years of TTA experience and our specific experience supporting OVC programs, we will deliver TTA that is evidence-based, survivor- and culturally informed, family-centered, and holistic. A key objective will be to establish models that can be adapted with fidelity by other jurisdictions and geographic locations.