Description:

The Legal Assistance for Victims (LAV) Grant Program is intended to increase the availability of civil and criminal legal assistance needed to effectively aid adult and youth victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking who are seeking relief in legal matters relating to or arising out of that abuse or violence, at minimum or no cost to the victims. LAV Grant Program funds may not be used to provide criminal defense services. The LAV Grant Program makes awards to law school clinics, domestic violence victims’ programs and shelters, bar associations, rape crisis centers and other sexual assault services programs, private nonprofit entities, Indian tribal governments and tribal organizations, territorial organizations, and legal aid or statewide legal services. Grant funds may be used to provide direct legal services to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking in matters relating to or arising out of that abuse or violence. The objective of the LAV Grant Program is to develop innovative, collaborative projects that provide quality representation to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.

Funding Title: OVW Fiscal Year 2014 Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program-Sexual Assault and/or Tribal Focus

Agency Name: Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women

Funding Instrument Type: Grant

Express Language for Legal Aid:  Yes

Target Population: Victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking from underserved population

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: No

How to Apply: Applicants must be registered and current with the System for Award Management (SAM) registration and with Grants.gov prior to submitting an application no later than January 14, 2014.

Current Closing Date for Applications:  January 9, 2014     

Award Ceiling: $500,000

Award Floor: $0

Eligible Applicants: Private nonprofit entities, Publicly funded organizations not acting in a governmental capacity, Territorial organizations, Indian tribal governments, and Tribal organizations

Applications are limited to projects focused solely or primarily (50% or more) on providing legal representation to victims of sexual assault or projects proposing to provide comprehensive legal representation to adult and youth victims on Indian tribal lands.

Priority Consideration: OVW will give priority to applications that propose to provide victims with “holistic” legal representation. Although protection orders play an important role in victim safety, they do not address the breadth of legal needs of survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. Holistic representation goes beyond a victim’s need for a protection order and includes representation in other legal proceedings directly related to a client’s experience of violence such as: child support, child custody, legal separation/divorce, unemployment compensation, immigration matters, financial matters and/or housing.

Policy and Regulations on Use of Funds: The Violence Against Women Act (2013) (PDF) 

Link to Full Announcement: http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/docs/2014-lav-solicitation.pdf

Contact Information: For assistance with the requirements of this solicitation, contact OVW at (202) 307-6026. In Fiscal Year 2014, OVW applications will be submitted through Grants.gov. For technical assistance with Grants.gov, contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 1-800-518-4726. Grants.gov Number assigned to announcement OVW 2014-3690.

Categories: Department of Justice, Domestic Violence, Express Language for Legal Aid, Family, Native American Tribes or Tribal Organizations, Non-profit Organizations, Subgrant Possibilities, Victims of Crime