National Native American Heritage Month
During this National Native American Heritage Month, learn about OVC and OVC-funded programs and resources to support victim services in Tribal communities.
Register for the 18th National Indian Nations Conference
Join OVC at the 18th National Indian Nations Conference on December 10–13, 2024, at the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Reservation in Palm Springs, California.
This conference will focus on the unique needs of American Indian and Alaska Native crime victims and provide training for professionals at the Tribal, federal, state, and local levels.
OVC FY25 Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside Formula Grant Program Population Certification
OVC’s Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside (TVSSA) formula grant program is dedicated to supporting the vital work of American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes in meeting the needs of crime victims.
OVC strongly encourages federally recognized Tribes to submit a Population Certification Form to signal their intent to apply for the noncompetitive FY25 TVSSA formula grant program funding opportunity. Tribes also have the option to designate another organization to apply on their behalf, or to seek TVSSA funding as part of a Tribal consortium.
Deadline: Submit a population certification by 11:59 p.m. Alaska time on January 17, 2025.
Register for the FY 25 TVSSA Population Certification Webinar on November 12, 2024, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern time.
Learn More and Submit Your Population Certification
Tribal Consultation on FY 2025 Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside (TVSSA) Program Funding
In October, OVC hosted a virtual Tribal Consultation on the TVSSA Program from the Crime Victims Fund for Fiscal Year 2025. OVC is accepting written testimony from elected Tribal leaders, appointed Tribal leaders, and Tribal leader designees until November 25, 2024. Learn how you can submit written testimony on our Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside web page.
Register for an In-Person Listening Session on the TVSSA Program
OVC will host an in-person listening session on the Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside (TVSSA) Program on December 10, 2024, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. ahead of the 18th National Indian Nations Conference. This session will give TVSSA Program grantees and Tribal leaders a chance to share their thoughts, ideas, and recommendations about how OVC can improve the TVSSA Program. Register for the listening session.
Tribal Victim Services Training and Technical Assistance (T-VSTTA)
T-VSTTA is a capacity-building program for American Indian and Alaska Native communities that provides tailored, victim-centered, and trauma-informed training and technical assistance to grantees and potential grantees as they develop sustainable victim services programs.
Learn more about T-VSTTA and contact them by email to [email protected] or 833-887-8820 to request training or technical assistance.
Financial Management Support to Tribal Grantees and Applicants
Visit the OVC Tribal Financial Management Center website to learn how it helps Tribes create strong applications for funding opportunities and supports their efforts to successfully manage their grant awards. Financial specialists are available to provide services (at no cost), including onsite and offsite requests for technical assistance and general questions.
Tribal Resource Tool
Search the Tribal Resource Tool to help locate services available to American Indian and Alaska Native survivors of crime and abuse. It was created by the National Center for Victims of Crime, National Congress of American Indians, Tribal Law and Policy Institute, and StrongHearts Native Helpline with funding support from OVC.
Additional Information
Visit the American Indian and Alaska Native Victim Services Resources and the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons sections of our site for more initiatives, publications, videos, and other resources.
Forensic Nurses Week: November 4–10, 2024
Forensic nurses work tirelessly to ensure that patients impacted by violence receive expert, compassionate, and comprehensive care to address the acute and long-term consequences of violence, improve patient recovery, and lower health care costs.
Use the 2024 Forensic Nurses Week Toolkit to help raise awareness about the role that these nurses have in providing trauma-informed care to victims of violence. Created by the International Association of Forensic Nurses, the toolkit offers outreach materials, including a sample proclamation, posters, and graphics.
We also highlight the following OVC program and guide.
Expanding Access to Sexual Assault Forensic Examinations
This OVC program seeks to increase the number of sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) and sexual assault forensic examiner (SAFE) programs to ensure that trauma-informed specialty care is available for patients. In FY 2024, OVC made 6 awards totaling nearly $3.5 million.”
Telehealth for Sexual Assault Forensic Examinations (TeleSAFE) Toolkit
With funding from OVC, the International Association of Forensic Nurses developed the TeleSAFE toolkit to improve and standardize care for victims of sexual violence via telehealth. The toolkit is designed for medical professionals and programs seeking to build a trauma-informed and patient-centered TeleSAFE program.
Transgender Day of Remembrance: November 20, 2024
The annual Transgender Day of Remembrance honors the memory of those we lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. Help raise awareness about anti-transgender violence by using the resources available on GLAAD’s Transgender Day of Remembrance website.
The OVC Responding to Transgender Victims of Sexual Assault Toolkit offers information for providing culturally sensitive, respectful care when working with transgender victims of sexual violence and their families. In 2022, OVC awarded funding to FORGE to update the toolkit it developed in partnership with OVC in 2014. The updated toolkit will address all major types of violence and crime against transgender individuals, and will include a focus on the experience of transgender women and girls of color.
The OVC Training and Technical Assistance Center (OVC TTAC) offers the training to support victims who identify as LGBTQ—
- a Victim Assistance Training Online module on “Specific Considerations for Providing Victim Services to LGBTQ Populations,”
- The Vulnerabilities of LGBTQ and Homeless Youth to Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation recorded training, and
- the Serving LGBTQ Survivors of Violence recorded training.
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Victims of Crime Act and 20th Anniversary of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act
40th Anniversary of the Victims of Crime Act
Starting in the 1960s, grassroots efforts to support victims of crime gained momentum throughout the United States. In April 1982, President Ronald Reagan issued an executive order creating a task force to determine what the Federal Government could do to improve the treatment of crime victims.
Acting on the findings of the task force, on October 12, 1984, the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) was signed into law. This seminal legislation provided federal funding for the Crime Victims Fund to support crime victim compensation programs and local victim assistance programs.
In 1988, an amendment to VOCA authorized the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to administer the Crime Victims Fund.
View our VOCA 40th Anniversary resources and join OVC as we reflect on the past four decades and look to the future. Discover a blog, a timeline, and more to learn about the impact of VOCA on the crime victims field. You will also find sample materials that you can use to help us raise awareness about victims’ rights and services.
View the VOCA 40th Anniversary Resources
20th Anniversary of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act
This year, we also commemorate the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (CVRA). Signed into law as part of the Justice for All Act, CVRA guarantees crime victims participatory and substantive rights that are enforceable in federal court.