DOJ – Specialized Services for Victims of Human Trafficking (2016)

By NLADA on March 30, 2016 • ( 0 )

Applications Due: May 12, 2016, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time

Description:

The primary goal of this FY16 program is to enhance the quality and quantity of services available to assist victims of human trafficking, as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, as amended, by enhancing interagency collaboration and the coordinated community response to victims of human trafficking, and through the provision of high-quality services that address the individual needs of trafficking victims. This solicitation will provide funding to victim service organizations with a demonstrated history of providing services for victims of human trafficking. Funding under this program will support the provision of a specific type of service or intervention for victims of human trafficking, services provided in specialized settings, or services targeted at specific subgroups of trafficking victims. Funding will also support efforts to increase the capacity of communities to respond to human trafficking victims through the development of interagency partnerships, professional training, and public awareness activities.

Funding Title: OVC FY 16 Specialized Services for Victims of Human Trafficking

Agency Name: Office for Victims of Crime

Funding Opportunity Number: OVC-2016-9290

Funding Instrument Type: Cooperative Agreement

Express Language for Legal Aid: Yes. The solocitation states:

“Proposals under this grant program may include, but are not limited to, a plan to provide any of the following types of services and interventions:

Legal services, including immigration assistance, assistance with civil legal remedies, victims’ rights enforcement, and assistance pursuing efforts to vacate a victim’s criminal conviction and/or expunge a victim’s criminal record (where the law allows a record to be vacated/expunged based on being a human trafficking victim)….”

Target Population: Victims of human trafficking, including services for underserved or unserved populations such as men and boys, American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), African Americans, Asian Americas, Latinos, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQ)

Expected Number of Awards: 13

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: Yes

Estimated Total Program Funding: $7,800,000

Award Ceiling: $600,000

Award Floor: $0

How to Apply: Applicants must register in, and submit applications through Grants.gov, a primary source to find federal funding opportunities and apply for funding. Find complete instructions on how to register and submit an application at www.Grants.gov. Applicants that experience technical difficulties during this process should call the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800–518–4726 or 606–545–5035, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except federal holidays. Registering with Grants.gov is a one-time process; however, processing delays may occur, and it can take several weeks for first-time registrants to receive confirmation and a user password. OJP encourages applicants to register several weeks before the application submission deadline.

In addition, OJP urges applicants to submit applications 72 hours prior to the application due date to allow time to receive validation messages or rejection notifications from Grants.gov, and to correct in a timely fashion any problems that may have caused a rejection notification.

OVC strongly encourages all prospective applicants to sign up for Grants.gov email notifications regarding this solicitation. If this solicitation is cancelled or modified, individuals who sign up with Grants.gov for updates will be automatically notified.

Current Closing Date for Applications: by May 12 2016, 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time

Eligible Applicants: By statute, grants under this program may be awarded to states, units of local government, federally recognized Indian tribal governments (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior), and nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations (including tribal nonprofits). For the purposes of this program, a unit of local government is any city, county, township, town, borough, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a state, territory, or federally recognized Indian tribal government. Organizations with a demonstrated history of providing victim assistance, social services, legal services, shelter, or mental health services for victims of human trafficking are eligible to apply. Tribal governments, tribal nonprofits, and organizations that specialize in serving American Indian/Alaska Native victims of human trafficking are also eligible to apply. OVC may elect to make awards for applications submitted under this solicitation in future fiscal years, dependent on the merit of the applications and the availability of appropriations. OVC welcomes applications that involve two or more entities that will carry out the funded federal award activities; however, one eligible entity must be the applicant and the others must be proposed as subrecipients. The applicant must be the entity with primary responsibility for administering the funding and managing the entire project. Only one application per lead applicant will be considered; however, subrecipients may be part of multiple proposals. FY 2015 Specialized Services, FY 2015 Comprehensive Services, and FY 2015 Enhanced Collaborative Model to Combat Human Trafficking grantees are not eligible to apply for funding under this solicitation, unless the new proposal outlines new services and cost items that were not included in the FY 2015 application. Nonprofit organizations that hold money in offshore accounts for the purpose of avoiding paying the tax described in 26 U.S.C. 511(a) are not eligible to apply.

Link to Full Announcement: Here

Contact Information: For technical assistance with submitting an application, contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800-518-4726 or 606-545-5035, or via email to support@grants.gov. The Grants.gov Support Hotline hours of operation are 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except federal holidays.

Applicants that experience unforeseen Grants.gov technical issues beyond their control that prevent them from submitting their application by the deadline must email the OVC contact identified below within 24 hours after the application deadline and request approval to submit their application. Additional information on reporting technical issues is found under

“Experiencing Unforeseen Grants.gov Technical Issues” in the How to Apply section.

For assistance with any other requirements of this solicitation, contact Ivette Estrada, Victim Justice Program Specialist, by telephone at 202-307-0932 or by email at ivette.estrada@usdoj.gov.