DOJ – Enhancing Access to Services Program (2018)

By NLADA on June 21, 2018

Applications Due: July 16, 2018, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time

Description:

This program seeks to enhance services to crime victims in linguistically specific communities by breaking down barriers that prevent millions of Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and limited English proficient (LEP) crime victims across the country from accessing the services they need after crime victimization. This program will promote innovation and collaboration in affected communities and will enhance the work of community-based organizations and programs working to help victims report crimes and access the services they need to heal in the aftermath of crime victimization.

Under Purpose Area 1 – Linguistically Specific Direct Services, OVC will make up to 10 awards of up to $200,000 each to organizations for the provision of direct services to victims of crime in linguistically specific communities.

Under Purpose Area 2 – Linguistically Specific Training and Technical Assistance, OVC will make one award of up to $600,000

to one technical assistance provider who will identify and address a broad range of training and technical assistance (TTA) and resource development needs to support the work of the grantees funded under Purpose Area 1 of this solicitation.

Goals and Objectives

The overall goal of this program is to increase the capacity of community-based organizations and programs to break down the barriers that victims face in accessing services. Organizations

funded through this program will:

Deliver victim-centered and trauma-informed services within linguistically specific communities;
Expand the capacity of community-based organizations to address the language access and service needs of all crime victims; and
Identify promising practices and disseminate resources and lessons learned from this project to the victim services field and allied professionals.

Funds through this program are primarily intended to be used to improve language access services within community-based organizations and provide a comprehensive array of direct services for victims of all types of crime. Up to 20 percent of funds may also be used to build the capacity of staff and community partners to provide comprehensive direct services to victims.

Purpose Area 1: Linguistically Specific Direct Services: Competition ID: OVC-2018-14303

This purpose area will fund 10 awards to provide linguistically specific victim-centered and trauma-informed services for victims of crime. Priority will be placed on organizations with a history of serving crime victims that propose to expand and increase access to services for all victims of crime within linguistically specific communities (e.g., victims who are Deaf, hard of hearing, or LEP). Community-based organizations that currently receive federal funding to provide linguistically specific services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking should seek to expand those services to victims of other types of crime within that community, including victims of human trafficking, robbery, assault, elder abuse, and DUI/DWI; family members of homicide victims; and victims of hate and bias crimes.

Purpose Area 2: Linguistically Specific Training and Technical Assistance: Competition ID: OVC-2018-14304

This purpose area will fund one organization to provide TTA related to the provision of linguistically specific services to crime victims. The TTA provider will train and assist Purpose Area 1 recipients funded under this project, and other victim service providers and allied professionals, and will develop tools and resources suitable for online publication and dissemination to the larger victim services field.

Funding Title: OVC FY 2018 Enhancing Access to Services Program

Agency Name: Office for Victims of Crime

Funding Opportunity Number: OVC-2018-14302

Funding Instrument Type: Cooperative Agreement

Express Language for Legal Aid: Yes.

Page 5 lists examples of allowable activities under Purpose Area 1 to include, but not limited to:

“crisis intervention; victim advocacy; case management; assistance in applying for crime victim compensation; individual and group counseling for both victims and their children who are

exposed to the violence; emergency assistance for victims (food, clothing, rent, utilities, medical care, substance abuse treatment,

and other approved necessities); language assistance services (including professional interpreters or translators); legal assistance with protection orders and/or immigration remedies related to their victimization (T Visas, U Visas, VAWA self-petitions, etc.); translation of program materials; and community outreach and education.”

Target Population: Victims of all types of crime who face barriers – specifically language barriers – in accessing services. This includes victims who are from LEP (limited English proficient, deaf, and hard-of-hearing communities.

Expected Number of Awards: 11

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: No

Estimated Total Program Funding: $2,600,000

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 July 16, 2018, 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time

Eligible Applicants:

Purpose Area 1 – Direct Service Sites: Eligible direct service sites applicants are limited to public agencies; federally recognized Indian tribal governments (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior); nonprofit organizations (including tribal nonprofit organizations); faith- and community-based organizations; and colleges or universities (including tribal institutions of higher education). All applicants must demonstrate a history of providing direct services to victims of crime in linguistically specific communities.

Purpose Area 2 – Training and Technical Assistance: Eligible training and technical assistance (TTA) applicants are limited to public agencies; federally recognized Indian tribal governments (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior); nonprofit organizations (including tribal nonprofit organizations); faith- and community-based organizations; and colleges and universities (including tribal institutions of higher education). Applicants must demonstrate (1) experience providing training and technical assistance on crime victim service and language access issues for community-based organizations, and (2) experience developing online publications and technical assistance resources for broad dissemination to the victim services field.

Under both purpose areas – OVC welcomes applications under which two or more entities would carry out the federal award; however, only one entity may be the applicant. Any others must be proposed as subrecipients (subgrantees). The applicant must be the entity that would have primary responsibility for carrying out the award, including administering the funding and managing the entire project. Eligible applicants may apply for funding as a direct service site or as a technical assistance provider, but not both. Under this solicitation, only one application by any particular applicant entity will be considered. An entity may, however, be proposed as a subrecipient (subgrantee) in more than one application.

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, 606–545–5035, at www.grants.gov/web/grants/support.html, or at support@grants.gov. The Grants.gov Support Hotline operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except on federal holidays.

For assistance with any other requirements of this solicitation, contact the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Response Center: toll free at 800–851–3420; via TTY at
301–240–6310 (hearing impaired only); email to grants@ncjrs.gov; fax to 301–240–5830; or web chat at https://webcontact.ncjrs.gov/ncjchat/chat.jsp. The NCJRS Response Center operates from 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday, and from 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m. eastern time on the solicitation closing date.