West Ward Victims Outreach Services and Crime Prevention Initiative

The Office for Victims of Crime’s (OVC) Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services Final Report (Vision 21) envisions that “all crime victims in the 21st century can readily access a seamless continuum of evidence-based services and support that will allow them to begin physical, emotional, and financial recovery.” However, Vision 21 recognizes there are serious challenges to achieving this goal. Improving the field’s understanding of violence and trauma and their effects on survivors are among these challenges. To this end, OVC collaborated with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to release the FY 15 Supporting Male Survivors of Violence solicitation. The solicitation sought to enhance the services available to male survivors of violence, particularly boys and men of color, and their families, by funding demonstration projects that put in place evidence-based models and practices to provide trauma-informed, comprehensive services and supporting policies for these survivors and their families. OVC and OJJDP used this solicitation to competitively select 12 demonstration sites from across the country to meet this need.

The City of Newark will use this award to implement the West Ward Victims Outreach Services and Crime Reduction Initiative (WWVO), an innovative new crime victim service program. WWVO will serve young men of color, ages 18-30 that have been harmed by violence. During the three-year project period, WWVO will improve and enhance access to system and community-based services for this survivor group, employ street outreach methods to identify and serve survivors, and create a task force of providers to support survivors and their families.

ca/ncf

The Office for Victims of Crimes (OVC) Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services Final Report (Vision 21) envisions that all crime victims in the 21st century can readily access a seamless continuum of evidence-based services and support that will allow them to begin physical, emotional, and financial recovery. However, Vision 21 recognizes there are serious challenges to achieving this goal. Improving the fields understanding of violence and trauma and their effects on survivors are among these challenges. To this end, OVC collaborated with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to release the FY 15 Supporting Male Survivors of Violence solicitation. The solicitation sought to enhance the services available to male survivors of violence, particularly boys and men of color, and their families, by funding demonstration projects that put in place evidence-based models and practices to provide trauma-informed, comprehensive services and supporting policies for these survivors and their families. OVC and OJJDP used this solicitation to competitively select 12 demonstration sites from across the country to meet this need. The City of Newark will use this award to implement the West Ward Victims Outreach Services and Crime Reduction Initiative (WWVO), an innovative new crime victim service program. WWVO will serve young men of color, ages 18-30 that have been harmed by violence. During the three-year project period, WWVO will improve and enhance access to system and community-based services for this survivor group, employ street outreach methods to identify and serve survivors, and create a task force of providers to support survivors and their families. ca/ncf