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

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) is a component of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Created in 1995, OVW implements the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and subsequent legislation and provides national leadership on issues of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. Since its inception, OVW has supported a multifaceted approach to responding to these crimes through implementation of grant programs authorized by VAWA. By forging state, local, and tribal partnerships among police, prosecutors, judges, victim advocates, health care providers, faith leaders, organizations that serve culturally specific and underserved communities, and others, OVW grants help provide victims, across their life span, with the protection and services they need to pursue safe and healthy lives, while improving communities’ capacity to provide justice for victims and hold offenders accountable.

Purpose Areas:
In FY 2018, funds under the Campus Program may be used for the following statutory 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.

Eligible Entities:
Eligible entities for this program are institutions of higher education. An institution of higher education is an educational institution in any state that: (1) admits as regular students only persons having a certificate of graduation from a school providing secondary education, or the recognized equivalent of such a certificate; or students who have completed a secondary school education in a home school setting that is treated as a home school or private school under state law; (2) is legally authorized within such state to provide a program of education beyond secondary education; (3) provides an educational program for which the institution awards a bachelor's degree or provides not less than a 2-year program that is acceptable for full credit toward such a degree, or awards a degree that is acceptable for admission to a graduate or professional degree program; (4) is a public or other nonprofit institution; and (5) is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association, or if not so accredited, is an institution that has been granted pre-accreditation status by such an agency or association that has been recognized by the Secretary of Education for the granting of pre-accreditation status, and the Secretary of Education has determined that there is satisfactory assurance that the institution will meet the accreditation standards of such an agency or association within a reasonable time.

Cost Sharing or Match Requirement:
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 the Campus Program must also meet the requirements below. All certification and other eligibility related documents must be current and developed in accordance with the FY 2018 solicitation. Applications that do not meet all of the program eligibility requirements below will not be considered for funding under the Campus Program.

Required Partnerships:
In general, partners identified in the application as receiving a portion of the award are sub-recipients and not contractors because they meet the criteria in 2 C.F.R. § 200.330 for distinguishing between sub-recipients and contractors: they will be using federal funds to carry out a program for a public purpose specified in the authorizing statute for this program (as opposed to providing goods or services for the benefit of the applicant), will have their performance measured in relation to whether objectives of the grant program were met, and will have responsibility for programmatic decision making. For more information, see the Solicitation Companion Guide. For more information on required partnerships, see Mandatory Program Requirements section in the attached solicitation.

Letters of Certification:
There are two letters of certification to be eligible for funding: Certification Letter of Eligibility and Certification Letter of Intent to Implement Statutory Minimum Requirements. Each letter must be on the institution’s letterhead and must address compliance with the requirements outlined above and signed by the highest authorizing official (President, Chancellor, Provost and/or designee with similar authority) for each of the institutions of higher education that are involved in the project. Applicants that do not provide two letters certifying that they are an eligible entity and are in compliance with these statutory and program requirements at the time of application submission will not be considered for funding.

Certification Letter of Eligibility:
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 certain types of information about campus crime statistics and security policies for their respective campuses. See 20 U.S.C. §1092(f). 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. The annual security report must contain information regarding campus security policies and campus crime statistics.

Certification Letter of Intent to Implement Statutory Minimum Requirements:
All applicants must certify by letter that they have knowledge of and are committed to the full implementation of each of the statutory minimum requirements of the Campus Program. Applicants must allot sufficient funding for each proposed project activity to ensure that every statutory minimum requirement is completed by the end of the designated project period. The letter must be signed by the highest authorizing official (e.g., President, Chancellor, Provost, or a designee with similar authority) of each of the participating institutions of higher education, certifying its intention to implement and dedicate the necessary funds to complete the following requirements by the end of the award period:

1. create a coordinated community response including both organizations external to the institution and relevant divisions of the institution;
2. establish a mandatory prevention and education program about sexual
assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking for all incoming students;
3. train all campus law enforcement to respond effectively to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking; and
4. train all members of campus disciplinary boards to respond effectively to situations involving sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.

Letter of Registration:

Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a letter of registration to ovw.campus@usdoj.gov by January 25, 2018. This will ensure that applicants are well-positioned to successfully submit an application by the deadline. Submitting a Letter of Registration will not obligate potential applicants to submit an application. Interested applicants who do not submit a Letter of Registration are still eligible to apply.

Pre-Application Information Session:
OVW will conduct one web-based pre-application information session for entities interested in submitting an application for the Campus Program. Participation in this session is optional. Interested applicants who do not participate are still eligible to apply. During this session, OVW staff will review the Campus Program requirements, review the solicitation, and allow for a brief question and answer period. This session is tentatively scheduled for: January 25, 2018.

Anyone interested in submitting an application to the Campus Program may register to participate in the pre-application information session. The total number of participants for the session may be limited. Registration is on a first-come-first-served basis, and space is not guaranteed. Interested participants from the same agency/jurisdiction are strongly encouraged to participate together so that as many interested applicants as possible can join the session. OVW reserves the right to deny multiple registrations from a single agency/jurisdiction.

To register, contact the OVW Campus Program mailbox at ovw.campus@usdoj.gov. Registration must be received at least 2 days prior to the start of the session. Participants are not registered until they receive a confirmation email. Webinars will be captioned in English and Spanish.