Advancing National Tools and Resources for Technology Initiatives in Victim Services

The Office for Victims of Crime is committed to enhancing the nation’s capacity to assist crime victims and provide leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime. Through the Vision 21: Advancing the Use of Technology to Assist Victims of Crime solicitation, OVC seeks to support organizations which demonstrate innovative strategies to create, expand, or enhance the use of technology initiatives on a national or nationally replicable scale to improve response, services, and access for victims of crime. OVC will support projects across a variety of technology platforms that could include, but are not limited to: 1) the development of new national app(s) or creation of another technology platform designed to serve victims of crime, including updating and maintenance for the length of the award; 2) the development of regionally focused app(s) or creation of another technology platform designed to serve victims of crime; or 3) the expansion or enhancement of existing services and/or hotlines on digital, online, or text platforms or an app that uses technology to provide services, referrals, tools, and information to victims of crime.

With this award, the interdisciplinary team of Johns Hopkins University, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and Arizona State University will design, develop, and implement a national resource database that includes linguistically and culturally diverse services at a local level for people experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) that will be integratable (unlike existing databases) into the existing myPlan App, a web-based safety planning app for victims of IPV, and other new technology (e.g., apps and websites). The team proposes to disseminate the myPlan app with the integrated resource database to national, regional, state, and local crime victims’ programs in collaboration with key stakeholders and to sustain the national resource database through the establishment of a licensing agreement requiring an annual fee that will be determined by project partners for web and app developers and victim service programs.

CA/NCF