Expired Funding Opportunities

OVC will award each eligible state victim compensation program an annual grant equal to 60 percent of what the state spent in state-funded benefits in the previous two years, other than amounts awarded for property damage. Funds under this program shall be used by the states and territories for awards of compensation benefits to crime victims, with the following exception: states may retain up to 5 percent of their total grant for administrative and training purposes. Apply by July 18, 2017.

The Victim Assistance Professional Development Fellowship Program supports individuals to work in fellowship positions at the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). Fellowship grantees each work in a particular topic area enhancing and extending OVC efforts to develop and replicate innovative programs that serve crime victims. The overarching goal of this fellowship is to assist OVC and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in meeting the crime victim services field's need for improving the integration of statistical data and findings into victim services practice.

This continuation funding, which will be offered via letters of invitation, will continue to support 2 competitive discretionary cooperative agreements awarded under the FY 14 Vision 21: Using Technology to Expand National and International Access to Victim Services solicitation. This program plan estimates funding through the final planned two years of the programs' activities, to be funded as one final continuation cooperative agreement for each award. This funding is by invitation only.

The State Victim Assistance Academy (SVAA) Technical Assistance Project provides dedicated training and technical assistance (TTA) support to the network of SVAAs across the country working to ensure that service providers have the critical training they need to develop their professional skills and respond to the increasingly complex needs of crime victims. The grantee, the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) in partnership with ORI Consulting, has established the SVAA Resource Center to fulfill this role.

2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Community Awareness Projects OVC sought applications from organizations to provide financial and technical assistance to approximately 70 communities nationwide to conduct public education and awareness activities on crime victims’ rights and services in their jurisdictions during the 2017 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW).

The Supporting Male Survivors of Violence (SMSV) Initiative seeks to improve responses to male survivors of violence, particularly boys and men of color, and their families, and to dedicate technical assistance to support these efforts. This solicitation will be used to provide FY 17 funding to the SMSV technical assistance provider, the Healing Justice Alliance, and the 12 participating SMSV demonstration sites. The additional funding will be used to bolster the demonstration site efforts and ensure HJA has the resources necessary to support the sites engaged in this important work.

The Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Victims (ELERV) project follows a multifaceted approach involving a demonstration project, intensive technical assistance to support the demonstration sites, and an evaluation. During the next 3 years, the grantee, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), will continue to provide intensive technical assistance to the three law enforcement agencies participating in the demonstration project as they implement the ELERV strategy.

Through this solicitation OVC seeks applicants to better protect older Americans by improving identification of elder abuse and enhancing response and outreach to victims in three innovation grant categories: Combating Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation Through Technology; Increasing Justice for Older Americans; and Focusing on Victims by Identifying and Remedying Elder Abuse and Financial Exploitation.

Through this solicitation OVC seeks to support organizations which demonstrate innovative strategies to create, expand, or enhance use of technology initiatives on a national scale to improve response, services, and access for victims of crime. OVC seeks to address three areas, which may intersect depending on the applicant’s proposed activities and project strategy.

The Vision 21: Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth program seeks to address the enduring issue of child and youth victimization by bringing together all of the relevant systems and professionals to establish a seamless coordinated approach.

Post-conviction victim services and advocacy are critical to ensure that crime victims understand their legal rights and the process through the entire continuum of their involvement with the juvenile justice and/or criminal justice systems. Under the OVC FY 2017 Action Partnerships for National Membership, Professional Affiliation, and Community Service Organizations: Post-Conviction Services to Victims of Crime solicitation applicants are asked to develop and deliver training and resources that address the crime victims’ needs and gaps in services during the post-conviction period.

States have received federal financial assistance through the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) to support victim assistance and victim compensation programs since 1986. These programs currently administer approximately $584 million in grant funding. In December, 2014 President Obama raised the VOCA funding from $745 million to approximately $2,361 billion. This tripled the current funding level.

The overarching goal of the Victim Services Language Access Fellowship Program is to develop a strategic initiative to ensure that OVC's products, programs, and services are accessible to all, especially the Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and LEP communities. The Fellow will work closely with OVC and make recommendations on how the Office can both improve and integrate Language Access work.

The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) invites the National Center for Victims of Crime to submit an application for funding to develop the on-line 2018 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Resource Guide and the development of the a NCVRW Theme Narrative. This includes developing and submitting a written expository narrative which explains the message of the NCVRW theme as selected or provided by OVC.

This solicitation seeks to address the enduring issue of child and youth victimization through state-level demonstration projects. Although many systems exist to respond to issues caused by child and youth victimization, these systems often fail to communicate and collaborate effectively to get to the root of the problem.

OVC seeks applicants to plan and conduct the 16th and 17th National Indian Nations Conference: Justice for Victims of Crime, which will take place in 2018 and 2020, respectively. Since 1988, OVC has sponsored 15 Indian Nations: Justice for Victims of Crime Conferences (Indian Nations Conferences) that have attracted thousands of participants involved in meeting the needs of victims of crime in Indian Country.

OVC expects to make an unspecified number of awards from $25,000 to $250,000, for an estimated total of $1,500,000 to Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Formula State Compensation Administrating Agencies only. This program is specifically for the improvement of data collection efforts to help increase the accuracy of administrative reporting through the OVC Performance Management Tool for VOCA Formula Victim Compensation programs that did not apply for similar funding for system upgrades through the OVC FY 2015 Vision 21: Building State Technology Capacity Competitive Solicitation.

The goal of this solicitation is to update and expand OVC’s resources to support crime victims with disabilities, particularly the following two resources: Victims with Disabilities: Collaborative, Multidisciplinary First Response DVD and Trainers Guide (published in 2009 and revised in 2011) and Victims with Disabilities: The Forensic Interview DVD and Trainer’s Guide (published 2007 and revised in 2011). Since these documents were first published, expansive work has been done on disabilities and the technology landscape of victimization has rapidly changed.

The Department of Justice has a cooperative agreement with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to track children kidnapped by their non-custodial parent and taken across international borders and to assist the left-behind parents obtain lawful custody under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction. To assist in this effort, OVC provides funding to NCMEC to assist left-behind parents with inadequate resources in traveling abroad to participate in Hague hearings and/or accompany their children back to the United States.

OVC seeks applicants to provide intensive training and technical assistance to trafficking service providers in one of two focus areas: (1) housing, and (2) employment, in order to assist them in developing and implementing meaningful housing and/or employment practices.

Awards of up to $600,000 will be made to enhance the quality and quantity of specialized services available to assist all victims of human trafficking, including services for underserved or unserved populations such as men and boys, American Indians and Alaska Natives, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning.

OVC and BJA will award between $600,000 and $900,000 to law enforcement agencies and victim service providers to work collaboratively to enhance multidisciplinary human trafficking task forces that combat sex and labor trafficking of foreign nationals and U.S. citizens of all sexes and ages. Eligible applicants are law enforcement agencies and victim service providers who submit separate but coordinated proposals that outline how the funding will be used to implement the human trafficking task force specified within the application.