From the Director’s Desk, April 11, 2024

DARYL FOX: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the April 11, 2024 installment of From the Director’s Desk. We’re glad you’re able join us today. All audio lines are muted, as this is a listen-only briefing. For reference, this recording will be posted tomorrow to the OVC website.

At this time, it’s my pleasure to introduce Kristina Rose, OVC Director, for today’s briefing.

KRISTINA ROSE: Thanks, Daryl. Hi everyone. Well you have caught me on another busy day here at OVC. Most of our staff are onsite, and we had a book club meeting today and an all-staff meeting, and it’s just been very active at OVC. 

And it’s not only a busy day, but it’s a busy month. So, as you know the victims’ field has three very big commemorations in April—Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Child Abuse Prevention Month, and National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. We’ve already posted our Featured Resources on the OVC website, and of course we’ll be commemorating NCVRW the week of April 21^st through the 27^th with two events—the Candlelight Vigil and the Crime Victims’ Service Awards Ceremony. And as you know, the theme this year is—

How would you help?

Options, services, and hope for crime survivors.

This theme asks all of us—friends, family members, neighbors, colleagues, community leaders, victim service providers, criminal justice practitioners, businesses, faith communities, everyone—how can we help victims of crime. And it’s a reminder that we don’t all have to be victim service providers to offer that help. You can listen, you can memorize national hotline numbers, you can learn where your local programs are, you can volunteer, raise awareness on your social media platforms, or you can just be a connector to victim services. But most importantly when you do this, you can be the one that gives hope to a crime survivor.

Earlier this week, we announced our guest speakers for the Candlelight Vigil. They are actor Anthony Edwards and trauma recovery center director Brenda Glass from Cleveland. I’ve had opportunities to hear both speak, and I spent time with Brenda just last week at the Community Violence Intervention Conference. They are both so passionate about what they do, and they definitely embody this year’s theme. I hope that you’ll be able to join us to hear them speak at the vigil on Wednesday the 24^th at 7:00 pm. 

And then the next day, on the 25^th, we will be honoring our Crime Victims’ Service recipients at the Awards Ceremony at 3:00. And I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll just simply say that the individuals and teams that we’re honoring have worked tirelessly to support crime survivors through services, advocacy, research, and of course, the hope that they offer. Trust me, you’re not going to want to miss this. So please visit ovc.ojp.gov/ncvrw to register now. 

And just today, actually, I attended the opening of the new Baltimore offices of the Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center. Now, some of you may be very familiar with the Center, and some of you may not be. But in the Washington, DC area and Maryland, we know Roberta Roper. She is the one who founded the Center after her daughter Stephanie was murdered in 1982, and she proceeded to change laws around victims’ rights. And her--Roberta and her organization have passed more than a hundred pieces of victims’ rights legislation in this country. So, I was able to go to their ribbon-cutting ceremony today and see Roberta, and she had wonderful people there with her. The Baltimore police chief, the head of the Maryland State Police, the crime victim comp and assistance administrators were there, folks from the U.S. Attorney’s offices were there. It was really, really wonderful and we congratulate them on their beautiful new offices.

So, since we last spoke, I have actually been able to meet with a number of grantees in DC, either because they are located here, like the Network for Victim Recovery in DC, or they’re just passing through, like the Hope Research Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We also had a summit with many of our state VOCA administrators, especially--the compensation administrators, I should say. Then a bunch of us traveled to Chicago last week to attend the Community Violence Intervention Conference. And I want to share a few thoughts about the CVI Conference, just because it really made an impression on me, even more so than it did last year, but also because we hosted a special event the day before the conference started in Chicago. We convened a round table discussion with funeral directors from around the country to talk about their role, and the role of their profession in the lives of families of homicide victims. 

About two years ago, we began engaging with them and we’ve learned about the many innovative ways that so many of these funeral directors are  supporting these families. And we heard about their experiences with crime victim compensation. So the roundtable give us an opportunity to sit down face to face and hear from them about a number of issues. And we learned quite a bit. For example, we learned that a funeral home in Iowa actually has case workers who help families fill out victim compensation forms and help them navigate the aftermath of a death caused by homicide. In Iowa they also partner with a local academy of grief and loss whose staff offers support and solace to the community. Matter of fact, they will actually go into the schools after a death that occurs in the schools to meet with students who may be struggling after losing a classmate. In New York City, one of the funeral homes has a Day of the Dead remembrance for the community, where families can gather and bring alters to display the food and the mementos that were special to their lost loved ones. One funeral director from Illinois told us that she has buried over three hundred children, and we had one funeral director tell us that they had buried seventeen members of the same family. 

The stories shared around that table were both illuminating and heartbreaking, but it really reinforced our resolve to improve access for victims to crime victim compensation and services, especially those victims--or I really should say the survivors of homicide victims. It was a phenomenal round table. I want to thank the National Association of Funeral Directors and the National Association of Morticians and Funeral Directors [National Funeral Directors & Morticians Association] for their assistance in identifying the right people to be at our round table.

The day after the roundtable we kicked off the CVI conference in Chicago. And for those of you who are not familiar with the Community Violence Intervention Conference it’s--the conference facilitates peer learning knowledge exchanges around promising practices in violence intervention. And it’s very much focused on the grantees at the Office of Justice Program. And OVC plays a significant role in the CVI work through the funding of hospital-based victim services. So we were able to see many of our grantees at the meeting, which was wonderful. And this year we really tried to use this conference as a way to lift up the role of victim services in CVI. 

So I’m just going to give you one example. My good friend, OJJDP Administrator Liz Ryan and I hosted a panel about a documentary titled “Juvenile: Five Stories.” We talked with two of the individuals from the film, we brought them in for a plenary panel. Their names are Shimaine Holley and Romeo Gonzalez. And we used our plenary panel to talk with them about the ways that victim service providers and juvenile justice practitioners can collaborate to enhance CVI programs so that they are inclusive of the voices of young people. It’s so important to acknowledge that in neighborhoods--that in many neighborhoods, especially those that are experiencing high crime, lots of gun violence, that the people who are committing the harm are the same ones who are experiencing the harm. And oftentimes it is a child. So in these cases, early identification and victims services have the potential to change a child’s life. 

I also facilitated a workshop with five CVI and victims’ services leaders who understand and promote the importance of victim services as part of the CVI approach. And their message was clear: victim services are a critical CVI program component. And by the way, in case you forgot, VOCA funds can be used for CVI programs as long as they have a direct tie to victim services. 

Now for the CVF update. In February, just about--just short of $70 million dollars was deposited into the Crime Victims Fund, and the majority of that came from the deferred and non-prosecution agreements. Again, thank you VOCA Fix. The balance of the fund currently sits at just over $1.2 billion. This is significant, because the $1.2 billion already takes into consideration all of our obligations and the transfers that I mentioned in the previous briefing—transfers to the Inspector General and OVW [Office on Violence Against Women]. So, IN FACT, we have exceeded our fiscal year ‘24 obligation cap. So, we are in good shape for 2024. 

I want to take a moment to extend a big congratulations to a victim advocate named Donnel Ecoffey, who was recently selected for the inaugural Victim Specialist of the Year Award from the Office of Justice Services at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Donnel was selected for the work she did on the Pine Ridge Reservation, in a position that was funded by both OVC and the BIA. She provided valuable direct services to the members of Pine Ridge and we are so proud of her efforts! Congratulations, Donnel.

Finally, I want--I hope you’ll take a look at our funding opportunities that are open right now on ovc.ojp.gov. So far, we’ve released seven solicitations focused on serving victims of human trafficking and more solicitations will be posted soon. If you don’t see a funding opportunity that’s just right for you, check out the other opportunities available from OJP on ojp.gov or at the Office on Violence Against Women website at justice.gov/ovw. And, as a reminder, we are still seeking peer reviewers from diverse backgrounds and regions to assess this year’s grant applications. For more information about being a peer reviewer to see if it’s the right fit for you, visit the “Apply to Be a Peer Reviewer” section of the OVC website. 

That’s about all I have for today. Thank you all for everything you do to help crime survivors find their justice. Take good care and we’ll see you next month.