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National Crime Victims' Rights Week (NCVRW)

Funding Opportunity: 2025 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Community Awareness Projects


The National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators (NAVAA), in cooperation with OVC, is seeking proposals for innovative and collaborative approaches to promoting community‐wide public awareness of the rights and available services for victims of all types of crimes during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW), April 6–12, 2025.

The 2025 NCVRW theme is— 

Connecting < KINSHIP > Healing

Successful applicants will be awarded up to...

2025 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Dates and Theme

National Crime Victims’ Rights Week: April 6–12, 2025

Every April, OVC leads communities throughout the country in their annual observances of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW).

Through NCVRW we honor crime victims and survivors, recognize the professionals and volunteers who provide critical services to victims of crime, and raise awareness about crime victims’ rights and services.

We are pleased to announce that NCVRW will be commemorated April 6–12, 2025, with the...

August 2024 Featured Resources

This featured news content includes information about resources for supporting victims of labor trafficking, training and technical assistance opportunities, and OVC resources to help victims.

July 2024 Featured Resources

This featured news content includes information about the National Crime Victims’ Service Awards, the special July edition of From the Director’s Desk, World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, and the Back to Basics Microlearning Video Series.

OVC FY24 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week Community Awareness Projects (2025–2027)

Closing Date
Grants.gov Deadline
Application JustGrants Deadline
The goals of this project are to increase public awareness of crime victims’ rights and services nationwide during the 2025–2027 National Crime Victims’ Rights Weeks and strengthen the capacity of victim assistance agencies to develop a broad, collaborative approach to community awareness that highlights services for all types of crime victims.

Hope Research Center | 2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards

April 2024
Series
2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards
The Hope Research Center partners with service organizations to develop, test, and implement a trauma-informed and hope-centered framework to improve outcomes for victims and their families. This research also examines hope as a protective factor against burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and turnover among service providers. The Center offers hope research strategies, including evaluations and applied research projects customized to the needs of an organization and focused on improving program services and achieving client outcomes.

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Angela McCown, LMFT | 2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards

April 2024
Series
2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards
Angela McCown is director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) Victim Services Division (VSD), has more than 30 years of experience in the victim services field, and has helped hundreds of thousands crime victims participate in the criminal justice system and thousands of the professionals who serve them. Under Ms. McCown’s direction, the TDCJ VSD has implemented a variety of innovative strategies and programs to better meet the needs of crime victims.

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Herman Millholland | 2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards

April 2024
Series
2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards
Herman Millholland is an independent consultant with more than 22 years of comprehensive management experience specializing in criminal justice and victim services initiatives. As a consultant and national victim advocate, Mr. Millholland uses his strategic planning, financial management, board and fund development, and training and technical assistance experience to provide guidance and advice on public policy matters.

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Michelle S. Ballan, Ph.D., MSW | 2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards

April 2024
Series
2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards
Michelle Ballan is a Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the School of Social Welfare; Professor of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine at Renaissance School of Medicine; Research Director for the Stony Brook Early Childhood Clinic; and Director of the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) Center at Stony Brook University. Her research and practice focus on the identification and amelioration of barriers impacting the health and well-being of individuals with disabilities and their families. Her groundbreaking work has led to numerous publications delineating the negative impact of intimate partner violence on men and women with disabilities and best practices for service provision.

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Aswad Thomas, MSW | 2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards

April 2024
Series
2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards
Aswad Thomas is a community organizer, crime victim advocate, public safety policy expert, and a survivor of gun violence. Throughout his career, Mr. Thomas has brought unprecedented awareness of the unique and urgent needs of victims who are most impacted by crime and violence but who have been historically underserved, with a focus on addressing unaddressed trauma.

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Joan Meunier-Sham, MS, RN | 2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards

April 2024
Series
2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards
Joan Meunier-Sham is the director of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program and is responsible for the statewide delivery of acute adult and adolescent SANE services in 52 Massachusetts hospitals, and the delivery of Pediatric SANE services in 10 of the state’s 12 Children’s Advocacy Centers. She was also the co-director of the National TeleNursing Center (NTC), a pilot project funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime. In this pioneering project, expert SANEs at the NTC used telehealth technology to provide 24/7 “real time” support and guidance to clinicians conducting forensic examinations for adult and adolescent sexual assault patients in underserved communities.

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Elijah Lee | 2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards

April 2024
Series
2024 National Crime Victims' Service Awards
Elijah Lee is a 16-year-old, and a national advocate for children. His activism started at the age of 10 years old, as he led his first child abuse awareness march, where he rallied the community and educated others about its prevalence. Elijah founded a nonprofit organization, Hear Our Voices, in 2021, dedicated to empowering young people with an emphasis on assisting youth to find their voices and become agents of change.

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