Victim Assistance Professional Development Fellowship Program

The Victim Assistance Professional Development Fellowship Program supports individuals to work in fellowship positions at the Office for Victims of Crime for a period of one year. The fellowship grantees each will work in a particular topic area enhancing and extending OVC efforts to develop and replicate innovative programs that serve crime victims. OVC fellows will support OVC staff through the provision of direct operational assistance to crime victim organizations and agencies; and the design and development of innovative initiatives, training programs, technical assistance, and capacity-building efforts. In FY10, OVC will support fellows in the following three areas: Underserved Crime Victims; Evidence-Based Training and Technical Assistance; and Financial Fraud and Non-Violent Crimes.

Ms. Keely McCarthy will undertake the Underserved Crime Victims Fellowship. Ms. McCarthy will support the work of OVC's work with discretionary grantees to develop evidence-based training, technical assistance, and models for programs and practices the build organizational and service provider capacity to serve crime victims, especially those in underserved populations. Specifically, activities will include: (1) assisting in the assessment of the technical assistance, training, and capacity-building needs of victim service providers and allied practitioners; (2) supporting efforts to design and administer OVC-funded training and technical assistance initiatives; (3) developing a quarterly electronic newsletter for OVC discretionary grantees providing information and resources on the programmatic, administrative, and financial responsibilities of their federally-funded initiatives; (4) developing reports, speeches, and articles to support OVC's training, technical assistance, and capacity-building initiatives to expand evidence-based resources for the crime victims field; (5) assisting in the collection and analysis of performance measures and other programmatic information provided by OVC grantees or subgrantees that develop training, technical assistance, and other resources that enhance crime victims' access to rights and services; (6) working in consultation with OVC staff to develop information and technical assistance resources to support the ability of grantees funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to successfully execute the programmatic, reporting, and other administrative and financial requirements of their federally-funded projects; (7) participating in internal and external stakeholder meetings, forums, and conferences for the purpose of providing information on OJP/OVC efforts to address crime victimization and the corresponding gaps in provider resources and capacity to reach the underserved; and (8) participating in professional development and training activities to enhance expertise related to the needs of crime victims and the implementation of crime victims' rights laws. CA/NCF