Applications Due: July 10, 2018, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time

Description:

The purpose of this solicitation is to address an urgent gap in crime victim services related to the opioid epidemic and to expand upon existing or establish new programs to provide services to children and youth who are victimized as a result of the opioid crisis. OVC anticipates that this solicitation will support service providers in expanding their current scope
and expertise to ensure that children and youth—the most vulnerable victims impacted by the opioid crisis—are supported as they heal from the impact of crime and substance abuse.

OVC is committed to supporting the expansion of crime victim services and community partnerships to ensure these young crime victims are supported—no matter when or where they may access services. Examples of programs that may already be assisting young victims include, but are not limited to: school-based programs, foster care or child welfare programs, counseling and assistance programs, child advocacy programs, court-appointed special advocates, mentoring and tutoring programs, hospital- and medical-based programs, and faith-based programs.

This solicitation has two purpose areas:

1. Purpose Area 1: Direct Services
2. Purpose Area 2: Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Provider

Goal, Objectives, Activities, and Deliverables—Purpose Area 1 and Purpose Area 2
The overarching goal of the Enhancing Community Responses to the Opioid Crisis: Serving Our Youngest Crime Victims program is to support children and youth who are crime victims as a result of the opioid crisis. Purpose Area 1 applicants will achieve this goal by providing direct services and support to these young victims at a community or jurisdictional level. Purpose Area 2 applicants will achieve this goal by supporting Purpose Area 1 grantees as they develop new initiatives and enhance existing efforts.

OVC has developed objectives, activities, and deliverables as a framework for applicants to be able to successfully achieve the overarching program goal of serving young victims of this crisis. The language is broad to reflect a range of programs at various stages of development. Applicants will use this general framework and provide detailed plans to describe specifically how they will successfully undertake, track, communicate about, and complete their proposed project(s) in a 3-year timeframe beginning October 1, 2018, and ending on September 30, 2021.

Purpose Area 1 (Direct Services) applicants will develop and execute plans to support children and youth directly, at the community or jurisdictional level. Applicants are expected to work with an OVC-designated national training and technical assistance (TTA) provider to further enhance these efforts and contribute to the growing body of knowledge about these issues and underscore successful practices.

Purpose Area 2 (TTA) applicants will develop and activate plans to support the direct services applicants on a national scale, to equip and support the community-based programs as they develop new initiatives or enhance existing efforts. Applicants must determine how to fully support a wide variety of direct services program sites (possibly more than 30) in successfully carrying out their own objectives and activities, and to share key information, lessons learned, and promising practices on a national scale (in close consultation with OVC).

Funding Title: OVC FY 2018 Enhancing Community Responses to the Opioid Crisis: Serving Our Youngest Crime Victims

Agency Name: Office for Victims of Crime

Funding Opportunity Number: OVC-2018-14323

Funding Instrument Type: Grant

Express Language for Legal Aid: No. However, on page 4, FN4,, OVC notes a range of areas in which civil legal aid has historically provided services:

“Children and youth may be victims of a range of crimes including, but not limited to: child abuse, criminal neglect, assault, sexual abuse/assault, theft, exploitation, endangering the welfare of a child, human trafficking, and kidnapping etc. A crime does not have to be reported to authorities for a child or youth to be eligible to receive services provided through this solicitation and program.”

Target Population: Children and youth (newborns through teens (up to 18)) who are victimized as a result of the opioid crisis.

Note: Although the opioid epidemic is the current substance abuse crisis facing Americans, OVC recognizes that drug trends change and individuals who use illegal drugs (or misuse legal drugs) often use or migrate to multiple other substances. Therefore, it is OVC’s intent to create a program that foremost provides for the needs of young crime victims affected by substance abuse, regardless of the type of substance in question.

Expected Number of Awards: 33

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: No

Estimated Total Program Funding: $26,000,000

Award Ceiling: $2,500,000

Award Floor: $300,000

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 10, 2018, 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time

Eligible Applicants:

Purpose Area 1 (Direct Services): Eligible Purpose Area 1 applicants are limited to nonprofit and for-profit organizations (including tribal nonprofit and for-profit organizations), faith- and community-based organizations, colleges and universities (including tribal institutions of higher education), public agencies, state agencies, and federally recognized Indian tribal governments (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior). All applicants must be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the affects on children and youth who are crime victims as a result of the opioid crisis. Applicants should have proven experience in serving this unique niche of crime victims; and knowledge and understanding of the best practices to support these crime victims.

Applicants must have the staff, resources, and capacity to develop new initiatives or enhance existing programs proposed to address the areas of victimization described in the solicitation (see pages 5–9 for additional details).

Applicants must be willing to work cooperatively with OVC and a TTA provider specified by OVC. Grantees will be required to participate in a program assessment if OVC elects to conduct an evaluation of this program.

Purpose Area 2 (Training and Technical Assistance): Eligible Purpose Area 2 applicants for the technical assistance project are limited to nonprofit and for-profit organizations (including tribal nonprofit and for-profit organizations), faith- and community-based organizations, colleges and universities (including tribal institutions of higher education), public agencies, state agencies, and federally recognized Indian tribal governments (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior). Applicants must have: (1) the demonstrated ability to provide in-depth and targeted TTA on a national scale; (2) demonstrated experience and expertise providing TTA in the areas of crime victimization, particularly with children and youth, and the types of services described in this solicitation; (3) experience developing high-quality online publications and TTA resources for broad dissemination to the victim services field; and (4) the demonstrated ability to forge partnerships with other groups and organizations to fulfill specialized TTA needs such as sharing best practices in providing services to children and youth, and to understand the complexities of addiction.

Both Purpose Area 1 and Purpose Area 2: A nonprofit organization does not have to have 501(c)(3) status to apply for grant funding under this solicitation. Applications in either purpose area that involve two or more entities are welcome; however, one eligible entity must be the lead applicant and the others proposed as subrecipients (subgrantees). The lead applicant must be the entity with the primary responsibility for administering the funding and managing the project, including subrecipient monitoring. 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. View OVC”s technical assistance webinar by clicking 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.

Categories: Children, Department of Justice, Domestic Violence, Education Organizations, Family, Government Organizations, Health, Human Trafficking, Medical-Legal Partnerships, Non-profit Organizations, Rural, Substance Use Disorder, Victims of Crime