National Resource Centers for Victim Research, Evaluation, and Reaching Underserved Victims

The Justice Research and Statistics Association, together with the Urban Institute, is pleased to respond to the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) solicitation, OVC FY 2023 National Resource Centers for Victim Research, Evaluation, and Reaching Underserved Victims, O-OVC-2023-171721, Category 2: Research and Evaluation.

These organizations propose to renew the Center for Victim Research (CVR) from October 2023 to September 2025. This team is uniquely and exceptionally qualified for this opportunity, having previously founded and operated the CVR from October 2016 to September 2020 with OVC funding. CVR maintains a strong online presence, including an open access library, collections of tools to promote the use of data and engagement in research, evidence syntheses, archived webinars and podcasts, and much more.

The goal in reinvigorating the CVR is to strengthen both the evidence base for culturally diverse, multidisciplinary victim services and the capabilities of applied victim researchers by supporting participatory studies, evaluations, and research translation with victim-survivors and the providers who serve them.

In support of this goal, the team will 1) Manage the CVR initiative and infrastructure; 2) Facilitate state research partnerships between VOCA Administrators and Statistical Analysis Centers, in close collaboration with OVC’s State Victim Resource Division and the OVC Center for VOCA Administrators;  3) Strengthen community research-practice collaborations, by increasing the diversity and number of researchers conducting applied research related to underserved victims, renewing the Research-to-Practice Cadre of national victim resource centers, and forming a Community Workgroup of culturally diverse, multidisciplinary victim service providers and survivors; 4) Synthesize, Translate, & Disseminate Research Evidence, particularly evidence relating to community and gun violence and the needs of underserved and historically marginalized victims; and 5) Coordinate with other OVC TTA Providers to extend access to information and avoiding duplication of efforts.

Activities under these objectives will be designed to meet the goals of Executive Order 13985 by promoting racial equity and contributing to greater access to services and opportunities for historically underserved and marginalized communities.
Project deliverables include: coordination with OVC’s SVRD and VOCA Center to improve VOCA Administrator use of data and evidence; a report on victim research and evaluation that includes knowledge gaps surrounding victims of community and gun violence; training and technical assistance to VOCA Administrators; a plan to increase the diversity and number of involved researchers; conference participation; and expanded tools and resources to promoted victim-related research and evaluation.