(CLOSED) USDOJ - OVW - Reduce Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence and Stalking on Campus Program

Pre-Application Information Session: OVW will conduct a web-based pre-application information session for entities interested in submitting an application for this program. During this session, OVW staff will review this program’s requirements, review the solicitation, and allow for a brief question and answer period. The session is tentatively scheduled for: February 7, 2019.

To register, contact the Campus Program mailbox at OVW.Campus@usdoj.gov or at 202-514- 7998. Registration must be received at least two days prior to the start of the session. Participants are not registered until they receive a confirmation email.

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) is a component of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Created in 1995, OVW administers grant programs authorized by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and subsequent legislation and provides national leadership on issues of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. OVW grants support coordinated community responses to hold offenders accountable and serve victims.

This program encourages a comprehensive coordinated community approach that enhances victim safety, provides services and support for victims, and supports efforts to hold offenders accountable. The funding supports activities that develop and strengthen trauma-informed victim services and strategies to prevent, investigate, and respond to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking on campus.

In FY 2019, funds under the Campus Program may be used for one or more of the following purposes:

1. To provide personnel, training, technical assistance, data collection, and other equipment with respect to the increased apprehension, investigation, and adjudication of persons committing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus.

2. To develop, strengthen, and implement campus policies, protocols, and services that more effectively identify and respond to the crimes of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, including the use of technology to commit these crimes, and to train campus administrators, campus security personnel, and personnel serving on campus disciplinary or judicial boards on such policies, protocols, and services.

3. To implement and operate education programs for the prevention of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

4. To develop, enlarge, or strengthen victim services programs and population specific services on the campuses of the institutions involved, including programs providing legal, medical, or psychological counseling, for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and to improve delivery of victim assistance on campus. To the extent practicable, such an institution shall collaborate with victim service providers in the community in which the institution is located. If appropriate victim services programs are not available in the community or are not accessible to students, the institution shall, to the extent practicable, provide a victim services program on campus or create a victim services program in collaboration with a community-based organization. The institution shall use not less than 20 percent of the funds made available through the grant for a victim services program provided in accordance with this paragraph, regardless of whether the services are provided by the institution or in coordination with community victim service providers.

5. To create, disseminate, or otherwise provide assistance and information about victims' options on and off campus to bring disciplinary or other legal action, including assistance to victims in immigration matters.

6. To develop, install, or expand data collection and communication systems, including computerized systems, linking campus security to the local law enforcement for the purpose of identifying and tracking arrests, protection orders, violations of protection orders, prosecutions, and convictions with respect to the crimes of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus.

7. To provide capital improvements (including improved lighting and communications facilities but not including the construction of buildings) on campuses to address the crimes of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

8. To support improved coordination among campus administrators, campus security personnel, and local law enforcement to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus.

9. To develop or adapt and provide developmental, culturally appropriate, and linguistically accessible print or electronic materials to address both prevention and intervention in domestic violence, dating violence, sexual violence, and stalking.

10. To develop or adapt population specific strategies and projects for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking from underserved populations on campus.

OVW Priority Areas

In FY 2019, OVW is interested in supporting the priority areas identified below. Applications proposing activities in the following areas will be given special consideration.

1. Reduce violent crime against women and promote victim safety. To address this priority area, applicants must propose either of the following activities:

1. collaborate with local law enforcement agencies and/or local criminal justice agencies to incorporate lethality assessments and protocols into their coordinated response strategies and ongoing trainings; AND/OR
2. create protocols for how the coordinated community response (CCR) team and existing campus behavioral and crisis intervention teams can collaborate to more readily identify repeat offenders and offenders at high risk for committing sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking.

2. Increase efforts to combat stalking.

To address this priority area, applicants must ensure that 50% or more of proposed grant activities address stalking and must engage in all of the following activities: 1) develop a policy that reflects the unique needs of stalking victims (e.g., code of conduct, student accommodations, no contact order); 2) provide on-going trainings on the misuse of technology and stalking for all campus personnel; and 3) create primary prevention programming on stalking, including cyberstalking.

Eligible Applicants

The following entities are eligible to apply for this program:

Institutions of higher education.

Eligible entities include tribal colleges and universities and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), to which OVW is required to ensure equitable distribution of grants. 34 U.S.C. § 20125(a)(3)(C).

Nonprofit Organization Requirement – Offshore Accounts

Any nonprofit organization that holds money in offshore accounts for the purpose of avoiding paying the tax described in section 511(a) of the Internal Revenue Code is not eligible for a grant from this program. See 34 U.S.C. § 12291(b)(16)(B)(ii).

Cost Sharing or Matching

This program has no match or cost sharing requirement.

Other Program Eligibility Requirements

In addition to meeting the eligible entity requirements outlined above, applications for this program must also meet the requirements below. All certification and other eligibility related documents must be current and developed in accordance with the FY 2019 solicitation.

Failure to provide letters certifying to the requirements below will disqualify an application from further consideration. The signed certification letters must be uploaded as separate attachments in Grants.gov.

Required Partnerships

All applicants must include formal partnerships outlined in an EMOU with:

1. At least one criminal justice agency, such as a local law enforcement agency, prosecutor’s office, or court.

2. At least one sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking victim service provider within the community where the institution is located. See “Mandatory Program Requirements” and “Memoranda of Understanding” sections on page 5 in this solicitation for additional information for consortium and continuation applicants.

All applicants under the Campus Program must submit two certification letters:

1. Certification of Eligibility Per 34 U.S.C. § 20125(c)(3), all applicants must certify in writing that they are in compliance with section 485(f) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, which requires that all eligible institutions of higher education collect and report certain types of information about campus crime statistics and campus security policies for their respective campuses. The information must be compiled in an annual security report and disseminated to all current students and employees, and, upon request, to any applicant for enrollment or employment. See 20 U.S.C. §1092(f). A sample Certification of Eligibility Letter can be found on the OVW website at https://www.justice.gov/ovw/page/file/1124406/download.