Enhancing Access to Victim Services

Activating Change (formerly, the Center on Victimization and Safety at the Vera Institute of Justice) in partnership with the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender Based Violence (API-GBV) is requesting $1,000,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime to serve as the technical assistance provider for the Enhancing Access Grant Program. The purpose of the project is to build the capacity of OVC grantees and the broader field to effectively work with victims with disabilities, Deaf/HOH victims, and LEP victims. Primary activities for this project are a New Grantee Orientation, tailored technical assistance to Grantees, development and implementation of disability access plans, development and implementation of language access plans, cross-site learning exchanges, promotion of promising practices and innovations for victims with disabilities and Deaf victims, develop law enforcement language access training instructors guide, create Spoken Language Interpreter database, create Tip Sheet on Trauma-Informed Interpreting, promotion of the Community Centered Translation Toolkit, development and implementation of marketing plan for the Supporting Crime Victims with Disabilities Toolkit,  host an introductory webinar about the toolkit, convene online courses focused on the toolkit, and present at conferences about the toolkit and best practices. Expected outcomes are improved services for victims with disabilities, Deaf/HOH victims and LEP victims, improved accessibility of services and increased language access. The service area is national in scope.  The partner and subrecipient is the Asian-Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API-GBV). API-GBV is a culturally-specific organization and will be receiving 33% of the project budget. As such, we are requesting priority consideration for this application.