Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) is today awarding over $228.5 million in grants to enhance a wide range of supportive services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. The awards will go toward court-based programs, legal assistance, and initiatives tailored for older adults, rural communities, and other underserved groups. This set of awards also includes funding with a special emphasis on reducing barriers and enhancing access to services, safety, and healing for survivors in culturally specific communities.
These awards are part of the $690 million in grants administered by OVW that the Department announced earlier this month as part of the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act. Over the past month, many of these grants have been distributed to communities across the country. Those awards will enhance coordinated community responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking across all states, territories, and numerous Tribal nations. They also build on an additional $86 million in awards announced earlier this week by OVW’s Office of Tribal Affairs.
This funding comes as the Justice Department is preparing to kick off National Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) in collaboration with survivors, victim service providers, law enforcement agencies, advocates, and other community partners nationwide. DVAM encourages expanding access to justice and supportive services, particularly for underserved and historically marginalized communities, and promoting best practices in addressing domestic violence. It calls for strengthening prevention efforts and enhancing responses to meet the diverse needs of survivors. The impact of domestic violence extends beyond individuals, affecting entire communities, including workplaces and schools. The Justice Department acknowledges the critical work of first responders and victim service providers who support those affected by domestic violence.
“The Justice Department is committed to ensuring the safety of all Americans, and that includes addressing and preventing the harm caused by domestic violence,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This year, we are investing over $690 million, through the Office on Violence Against Women, in funding awards to prevent domestic and dating violence, as well as sexual assault and stalking; to hold offenders accountable; and to reach survivors in every community, territory, and Tribal nation. These awards reflect our steadfast dedication to ending these forms of violence and helping survivors find safety and healing.”
Beyond direct service funding, OVW invests in training and technical assistance through the Training and Technical Assistance Initiative. With grant awards exceeding $39 million to implement more than 59 training and technical assistance projects, this initiative will enhance the capacity of professionals within the civil and criminal justice systems and provide increased training and support for victim service providers nationwide. This funding supports effective responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking while also strengthening a coordinated community response and fostering partnerships among organizations that have not traditionally collaborated in addressing these issues.
“As we celebrate three decades of progress since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act, the landscape of gender-based violence continues to evolve,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “Prosecutors, law enforcement, and victim service providers must be equipped to meet emerging challenges and support victims, as well as hold violent actors to account. The grants announced today will bolster services for survivors and provide the tools necessary to address violence against women and advance public safety.”
- The release of grants also coincides with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) weeks, highlighting the importance of preventing and addressing violence among younger generations to break the cycle of violence and support healthy relationships. The Department has announced targeted grants focusing on two crucial areas: violence in higher education settings and programs designed specifically for children and youth. To enhance initiatives to prevent and address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking including online harassment and technology-facilitated abuse, college campuses nationwide will receive support from $12.19 million in grants from the Grants to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on Campus Program. Additionally, OVW will distribute $9.48 million through the Strengthening Culturally Specific Campuses’ Approaches to Address Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Initiative. This funding aims to bolster programs at historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and Tribal colleges and universities. Grants totaling more than $8.8 million from the Grants to Prevent and Respond to Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, Stalking, and Sex Trafficking Against Children and Youth Program will support comprehensive, community-based efforts to develop or expand prevention, intervention, treatment, and response strategies for children and youth impacted by gender-based violence.
“We must prevent and address dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on our campuses and in the lives of our young people,” said Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. “By empowering campuses and providing resources to support children and youth, we can create environments where all are free to pursue their educational and personal aspirations without fear of violence.”
“As we commemorate Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act, we reaffirm our commitment to a future where everyone can live free from the threat of violence,” said OVW Director Rosie Hidalgo. “Every survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking deserves access to trauma-informed, comprehensive services to seek safety, justice, and healing. Through these grants, we support our grantees to provide crucial support, advancing our shared mission to eradicate gender-based violence. We are dedicated to bringing together key partners to advance this vital work through a coordinated community response.”
Additional grant program awards and their respective amounts include:
- Grants totaling more than $22.97 million through the Grants to Enhance Culturally Specific Services for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Program will support community-based programs that provide culturally specific services for survivors of gender-based crimes, as well as the developing innovative culturally specific strategies and projects that enhance access to services and resources for survivors who face obstacles to using more traditional services and resources.
- Grants totaling more than $8 million through OVW’s Sexual Assault Services Culturally Specific Program will support nonprofit organizations that focus primarily on culturally specific communities and have experience working with survivors of sexual assault.
- Grants totaling more than $10.82 million through its Grants for Outreach and Services to Underserved Populations Program will support efforts to develop or enhance population-specific outreach and victim services to adult and youth victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in underserved populations.
- Grants totaling more than $36.09 million from OVW’s Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Program will enhance efforts to support victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in rural areas and fund projects uniquely designed to address and prevent these crimes in rural areas.
- Grants totaling more than $39.29 million through the Legal Assistance for Victims (LAV) Grant Program will provide funds for comprehensive direct civil and criminal legal assistance to survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking by providing assistance with legal matters arising out of that abuse. Additionally, grants totaling more than $3.14 million through the LAV Grant Program’s Expanding Legal Services Initiative will support community-based organizations establishing legal representation programs for survivors.
- Grants totaling more than $14.66 million from the Justice for Families Program will support court-based and court-related programs such as supervised visitation and safe exchange by and between parents; training for people who work with families in the court system; and civil legal assistance.
- Grants totaling more than $1.42 million from the Training and Services to End Violence and Abuse Against Individuals with Disabilities and Deaf People Program will support efforts to improve the response to survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and caregiver abuse who have disabilities or are Deaf, and to hold perpetrators of such crimes accountable.
- Grants totaling $3 million from the National Deaf Services Program Initiative will be used to support the continued efforts of Activating Change to reduce barriers and strengthen services for Deaf victims and survivors and to implement recommendations in the report, Expanding Deaf-Specific Victim Services Nationwide: A 5-Year Strategy.
- Grants totaling more than $6.87 million from the Training and Services to End Abuse in Later Life Program will support a comprehensive approach to addressing abuse in later life, including domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, neglect, abandonment, economic abuse, or willful harm committed against victims who are 50 years of age or older.
- Grants totaling more than $3.35 million from the Grants to Engage Men and Boys as Allies in the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls Program will support efforts to create educational and community-based programming designed to encourage men and boys to work as allies with women and girls to prevent domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sex trafficking.
- Grants totaling $3.6 million from OVW’s Research and Evaluation Initiative will support efforts to research and evaluate approaches to preventing and addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking so that communities that benefit from VAWA funding will be better equipped to align their work with practices that are known to be effective.
- Grants totaling more than $1.48 million for a new program, the Expanding Sexual Assault Victim Services on Campus Pilot Program, will support institutions of higher education in improving victim services on campus by expanding access to holistic sexual assault services and creating a promising practices guide for higher education institutions that wish to expand their sexual assault services and advocacy.
- Grants totaling $1.5 million for the STOP Formula Training and Technical Assistance program, which will support the efforts of all states and territories to successfully implement projects through the use of STOP Formula funds to strengthen and build the capacity of civil and criminal justice system professionals and victim service providers across the nation to respond effectively to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and to foster partnerships among organizations that have not traditionally worked together to address these crimes.
- Grants totaling $600,000 from the Specialized Training and Technical Assistance for Sexual Assault Victim Response will continue to support the Pennsylvania Coalition to Advance Respect and the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault to provide frequent and sufficient training, resources, and technical assistance to those working with sexual assault survivors and to provide scholarships for advocates to attend the National Sexual Assault Conference.
- Grants totaling $1.5 million for the Electronic Service Protection Order Court Pilot will be used to support courts that have multidisciplinary partnerships to develop and implement a program for serving protection orders through electronic communication methods and develop best practices relating to such electronic services.
OVW provides leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to reduce violence through the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act and subsequent reauthorizing legislation. Created in 1995, OVW has awarded more than $11 billion in funding to communities across the country that are developing programs, policies, and practices aimed at ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. In addition to overseeing federal grant programs, OVW supports policy development and undertakes special initiatives in response to community-identified needs. Learn more at www.justice.gov/ovw.