From the Director’s Desk, September 12, 2024

DARYL FOX: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the September 12, 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: Thank you so much, Daryl. Welcome, everyone, to the September briefing. I just returned from the 30th anniversary event celebrating the Violence Against Women Act at the Peace Corps headquarters, hosted by the Office on Violence Against Women. 

I was only able to be there for half of the day, but what I was there for was wonderful, and I am so grateful to OVW Director Rosie Hidalgo and Principal Deputy Director Allison Randall for the invitation to attend. 

We heard from survivor leaders, advocates, and practitioners about how the passage of VAWA has transformed the response to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. And it was a special interest to me, not just because I’m the director of OVC, but because I served as OVW’s chief of staff from 2001 through 2006. And it was there that I learned firsthand the true impact of VAWA. 

Some of the themes that ran through the presentations today included the importance of survivor voices as being foundational to the work, not only in the development of policy and programs, but in leading those policies and programs. This was heard loud and clear from those representing Black, Tribal, Latina, [and] LGBTQ+ communities as well as those from communities where they represent deaf or hard-of-hearing or those with disabilities. 

I thought this was incredibly impactful to listen to and was inspired by what they had to say. There was a lot of discussion around the coordinated community response and what it means to us now, especially in the context of how we work with culturally specific communities. Restorative justice, criminalization of survivors, and profound gratitude to those advocates who worked so hard 30 years ago to bring recognition and resources for victims of gender-based violence—those were some of the things that were really big on the agenda today. 

Our field has much to commemorate this year with the anniversaries of VAWA, of VOCA, of FVPSA, and I was reminded today, yet again, of the positive impact these pieces of legislation have really had on the evolution of services for victims, and on the professionalism of the field, and the lives of victims and survivors. It's really nice to have the opportunity to reflect on how far we have come. 

September also offers additional moments of reflection with a National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 11, where we were observing the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and then on September 25 is the National Day of Remembrance for Homicide Victims. 

A couple of years ago, we commemorated this day by releasing a conversation with longtime advocate Roberta Roper on our Justice Today podcast. I invite you to listen if you haven’t already taken the time to do that, as Roberta shares the challenges that she and her family faced while trying to navigate the justice system in the aftermath of the murder of her beloved daughter, Stephanie. 

Roberta also shared the inspiring way that she responded, founding the Stephanie Roper Committee and Foundation, which is now known as the Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center. They are still going strong. 

But during September, as we think about those that we have lost, I also hold dear my friends and all of the members of the National Organization of Parents Of Murdered Children. I hope that they seek out and receive any support they might need during this month as we all pay tribute to those they’ve lost. 

On September 24, I’ll be speaking at the Crime Survivors Speak March on Washington. This is really exciting! There will be thousands of survivors convening on the national mall in D.C., joining together to champion new approaches to safety and justice. The march is sponsored by the Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, which is an affiliate of the Alliance for Safety and Justice. I’m really excited about this, and I hope to see you all there!

And in the midst of all of this, OVC is winding down its grant award season, but we’re not done yet. We have been working—I say we—my staff have been working diligently on the application review process and preparing award packages. 

We received an absolutely overwhelming response to our newest solicitation, Meeting the Basic Needs of Crime Victims funding opportunity, which has required an all-hands-on-deck approach. It’s clear that we struck a chord with this one. 

For those of you who may not be familiar with this particular funding opportunity, it’s a new program with the goal of providing for the basic needs of crime victims from communities that have been historically underserved; marginalized; adversely affected by inequality; and disproportionately impacted by crime, violence, and victimizations. 

Services to be provided can include transportation, temporary and transitional housing, clothing, food, and those items that are necessary for victim and survivor wellbeing, healing, and safety. Not only was this the first time that we offered this program, but it was also the first time that we used a new design for the notice of this funding opportunity and to the approach of accepting applications. 

OVC allowed applicants to prepare a project plan in one of three ways, including a questionnaire, a video submission, or an oral presentation. I hope to share more about what we learned through this new process in my October briefing, so please be sure to join me next month. 

Speaking of awards, we recently released dynamic data dashboards that provide an overview of key performance measure data collected by OVC for the VOCA Victim Assistance and Victim Compensation formula grant programs for the fiscal years between 2021 and 2023. 

You can view data by state and key performance measures, like the number of victims served, types of services provided, the number of compensation claims paid, the amount of expenses paid, and you can also create custom data visualizations. So, go to our website and check it out.

A few weeks ago, we had back-to-back local site visits with OJP-funded community violence intervention programs in Washington, D.C., and in Baltimore. On [August] 26, we met with the Alliance of Concerned Men in D.C., and the next day we met with the Black Mental Health Alliance, Living Classrooms, and the Greater Baybrook Alliance in Baltimore. 

These grantees are working with credible messengers and violence interrupters who, every day, put the needs and safety of their communities and neighborhoods ahead of their own. We also learned that in the process of this work, they also suffer from vicarious trauma because of the violence and despair that they see on a daily basis in their neighborhoods.

It reminded us of how important it is to set aside time for self-care, especially if your work requires you to spend time with people experiencing trauma, because many of those who are doing the community violence intervention work have undergone trauma themselves before they even came to the work. 

Raising awareness of the role of victim services in CVI work is extremely important to us at OVC. In the group of credible messengers and violence interrupters that we met with, every one of them had been stabbed, shot, and served time at some point. 

Everyone deserves access to services and support that they need to heal from trauma, and I want to remind you that VOCA funds can be used for CVI work as long as there is a strong connection to victim services, and that is, in my estimation, the way of the future. 

Every CVI program should have a link internally, or a relationship externally, with victim services. There is more about VOCA funds for CVI work on our website. Check it out.

Before I provide the update on the CVF, I wanted to let you know we’ve opened registration for the 18th National Indian Nations Conference! The conference is to be held December 10–13, 2024, at the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Reservation in Palm Springs, California. 

I can’t even tell you how many times I think about the conference from 2 years ago and how impactful it was, and how it brought me so much closer to the issues, and the tragedies, and what the needs are in Tribal communities all over our country. 

Please, check out the announcement on the homepage of OVC’s website so you can access the registration website to see more information about keynote speakers, travel and accommodations, exhibit opportunities, and more. Again, I hope to see you there!

And now I’ll turn to the CVF. In July, criminal fines totaled $1.531 billion and deferred and non-deferred collections totaled just $31,000, which is the lowest total this year. Now, before you get too excited, most of the deposits from the criminal fines stemmed from the Binance case. 

If you remember from last month’s briefing, due to pending lawsuits, the Department has agreed not to obligate any of the $1.5 billion from the Binance case or the $440 million from the British American Tobacco case through November 15, 2024. OVC also has a little over $1 billion that is still to be obligated in FY 24 because we are not quite at the end of our fiscal year.

So, if you take the current balance right now of—excuse me—of $3.266 billion and you subtract the $1.5—actually, it’s $1.505—for the Binance case, $440 million for British American Tobacco, and the $1.047 billion in remaining obligations, the actual unencumbered balance is closer to $274 million.

As I said in last month’s briefing, none of this impacts our FY 24 funding. OVC has sufficient funding to meet the expenses obligated under the FY 24 appropriation cap. However, without significant deposits into the CVF or having that money freed up, OVC’s ability to fund statutorily mandated and other critical programs in FY 25 would be severely impaired. 

I speak for the Department when I say we are committed to continuing to work toward stabilizing the CVF and offering transparency to the field about the status of the CVF and future funding to help states and other programs plan accordingly. 

I know I’ve heard from many of you about how concerned you are about this, and rightly so. Please know we are standing with you. We are advocating on your behalf, and I am optimistic about what lies ahead. I really am. I think we can do this.

So that’s all I have for today. I’ll be back next month to announce some very exciting awards. Once again, I want to thank you for all that you do to help victims find their justice. Take care. I’ll see you soon.