Hope III Enduring Challenges Analysis

The overarching goal of the Helping Organizations and Programs Expand (HOPE III) project is to expand the vision and impact of the crime victim services field. Under this project, grantees will: (1) collectively undertake a comprehensive analysis of the current state of the crime victims' field in the U.S., with each grantee conducting a critical portion of the analysis; and (2) develop a consensus document that provides a philosophical and strategic framework for defining the role of the field in the country's response to crime and moving the field forward in the future. The final consensus document will include recommendations to OVC and the broader victims' field as well as a detailed blueprint for a national demonstration project (or multiple demonstration projects) focused on implementation of those recommendations.

The solicitation set out the following categories for four 12-month projects: (1) the role of the crime victims' field in the overall response to crime and delinquency in the U.S.; (2) building capacity in the crime victims' field to better serve victims of crime; (3) enduring challenges in the crime victims' field that still are being addressed; and (4) emerging challenges the crime victims' field has yet to address. A fifth, 18-month project will develop a consensus report of recommendations based on the information gathered through the other four projects.

The Vera Institute of Justice will undertake the 12-month project on enduring challenges in the crime victims' field. The grantee will do the following: (1) hire a full-time project director responsible for oversight and implementation of the project; (2) establish a stakeholder group of 30 to 40 representatives of federal, national, state, local, and tribal organizations and agencies to participate in the project; (3) conduct a comprehensive literature review on the particular topic being covered; (4) hold a 2-day forum with the stakeholder group; (5) develop a report synthesizing the results of the literature review and the forum findings; and (6) finalize the report, incorporating the comments of OVC.

ca/ncf