Domestic Violence

OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Addressing Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking at HSIs, HBCUs, and TCUs Initiative

The Addressing Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking at HSIs, HBCUs, and TCUs Initiative (Campus Set Aside Initiative) uses set aside funding (34 U.S.C. § 20125) from the OVW Campus Program to support Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) in strengthening their institutional response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The Campus Set Aside Initiative will support activities focused on building the capacity of HSIs, HBCUs, and TCUs to develop and implement strategies to prevent and address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking that meets the needs of its students, including effective response protocols and prevention programming.

OVC FY25 Services for Victims of Crime

This program supports the development, expansion and strengthening of victim service programs for all victims of crime throughout the United States and its territories. Award recipients will increase the quality and quantity of victim services in the following categories: · Category 1: Services to Child and Youth Victims (Anticipated Award Ceiling: $500,000) Awards under this category will be made to entities to serve child and youth victims of crime. Child and youth victims are persons who were age 17 or younger when the victimization took place. · Category 2: Services to Elder Victims of Abuse, Fraud, and Exploitation (Anticipated Award Ceiling: $500,000) Awards under this category will be made to entities to serve victims of elder fraud, abuse, and exploitation. For purposes of this funding opportunity, victims of elder fraud, abuse, and exploitation are persons who were age 55 or older when the victimization took place. · Category 3: Services to Other Crime Victims (Anticipated Award Ceiling: $500,000) Awards under this category will be made to entities to serve other victims of crimes (not child or elder victimization), excluding human trafficking. Victim services may include, but are not limited to, emergency assistance, case management, shelter and housing, medical and dental care, victim advocacy, transportation, childcare, legal services, and employment assistance.

OVC FY25 Emergency and Transitional Pet Shelter and Housing Assistance for Victims of Domestic Violence Program

Under this funding opportunity, OVC will provide funding for shelter and transitional housing and other assistance to victims of domestic violence and their companion animals, which under this program means pets, service animals, emotional support animals, and horses. A majority of domestic violence shelters do not allow pets, and the reasons for this may vary. This grant program will provide funding to enable those shelters that want to expand their programming to house domestic violence victims and their pets.

OVC FY25 National Victim Crisis Hotlines

This competitive grant program provides funds to maintain, enhance, or expand the capacity of national hotlines that are essential for providing crisis intervention services, safety planning, information, referrals, and resources for victims of crime in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Award recipients will implement enhancements that increase the quality of services and the number of victims served; support hotline staff to minimize the risk of vicarious trauma and burnout; and participate in the National Hotline Consortium.

OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Demonstration Program on Trauma-Informed, Victim Centered Training for Law Enforcement on Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking (Abby Honold) Program

The Demonstration Program on Trauma-Informed, Victim Centered Training for Law Enforcement on Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking (Abby Honold Program) supports efforts to improve law enforcement’s response to allegations of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking from the time of a victim’s initial report throughout the entire investigation, and to promote the efforts of law enforcement in improving the response to these crimes. Note that in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, the Abby Honold Program will only support projects addressing responses to allegations of sexual assault. The Abby Honold Program awards grants to law enforcement agencies to train officers to conduct trauma-informed and victim-centered investigations, with the goal of incorporating trauma-informed techniques designed to prevent re-traumatization of the victim and to increase communication between victims and law enforcement as well as stakeholders in a coordinated community response. This program’s purpose is also to evaluate the effectiveness of the training.

OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Enhancing Investigation and Prosecution of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking (EIP) Initiative

The Enhancing Investigation and Prosecution (EIP) Initiative is designed to promote and evaluate effective investigation and prosecution responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The EIP Initiative encourages law enforcement agencies and/or prosecutors’ offices to expand and improve their capacity to effectively investigate and/or prosecute these crimes, and, in so doing, support victim safety and autonomy, hold offenders accountable, and promote agency trust within the surrounding community.

OVW FY25 State and Territory Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions Program

The OVW State and Territory Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions Program, (Coalitions Program) supports the critical work of state and territory domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions and is a set-aside program under the OVW STOP Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program statute. These organizations play an important role in advancing the goal of ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. This program also includes a statutory set-aside from the Sexual Assault Services Program (SASP) statute, specifically for state and territory sexual assault coalitions.

OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Domestic Violence Mentor Court Technical Assistance Initiative

The OVW Domestic Violence Mentor Court Technical Assistance Initiative (Mentor Court Initiative) creates a unique opportunity to recognize well-established specialized courts and enable them to guide novice or developing courts and court-based programs that wish to significantly improve their responses to domestic violence cases to ensure victim safety and offender accountability. These well-established courts successfully serve as national models and share their expertise by hosting site visits, linking courts with peer courts facing similar challenges, and assisting other domestic violence courts to implement best practices to respond effectively to these difficult cases.

NIJ FY25 Research and Evaluation on Violence Against Women

This funding opportunity seeks to support the development of objective and independent knowledge and validated tools to reduce violence against women, promote justice for victims of crime, and enhance criminal justice responses.

OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Training and Technical Assistance Initiative

The purpose of the OVW Training and Technical Assistance Initiative (TA Initiative) is to provide direct training and technical assistance (TTA) to current and potential OVW recipients and subrecipients to enhance their efforts to successfully implement projects supported by OVW grant funds. OVW’s TA Initiative is designed to strengthen and build the capacity of civil and criminal justice system professionals and victim service providers across the nation to respond effectively to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking (i.e., the four VAWA crimes) and foster partnerships and collaboration among organizations to address these crimes.

OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Training and Services to End Abuse in Later Life Program

This program supports a comprehensive approach to addressing abuse in later life, including domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, neglect, abandonment, economic abuse, or willful harm committed against victims who are 50 years of age or older.

OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Research and Evaluation Initiative

This funding opportunity will fund two separate initiatives: a Research and Evaluation Initiative, which will study approaches to preventing and addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and a Research and Evaluation Capacity-building Project, which will enhance the gender-based violence field’s ability to identify effective practices, recognize service gaps, and develop and use evidence to improve prevention efforts and responses to gender-based violence.

STOP (Services, Training, Officers, and Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program

The STOP (Services, Training, Officers, and Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program supports local communities, including Indian tribal governments and Alaska Native villages, in their efforts to develop and strengthen effective responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

State and Territorial Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Coalitions Program

This formula grant program provides grants to each state and territorial domestic violence coalition and sexual assault coalition. Funds are for the purposes of coordinating victim services activities and collaborating and coordinating with federal, state, and local entities engaged in addressing violence against women. Statewide sexual assault coalitions provide direct support to member rape and crisis centers through funding, training and technical assistance, public awareness activities, and public policy advocacy. Statewide domestic violence coalitions provide comparable support to member battered women’s shelters and other domestic violence service providers.

Sexual Assault Services Formula Grant Program

This formula grant program assists states and territories in supporting rape crisis centers and other nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations or tribal programs that provide services, direct intervention, and related assistance to victims of sexual assault and their families.

Grants to Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions Program

The OVW Grants to Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions Program supports the development and operation of nonprofit, nongovernmental Tribal domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions. Eligible applicants will be invited by OVW to apply. Each recognized coalition will receive the same amount of base funding. Sexual assault coalitions and dual domestic violence/sexual assault coalitions will receive an additional amount for sexual assault-focused project activities.

The Grants for Outreach and Services to Underserved Populations Program

This competitive grant program helps to develop and implement outreach strategies targeted at adult or youth victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking in underserved populations and to provide victim services to meet the needs of adult and youth victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in underserved populations.

Tribal Sexual Assault Services Program

This competitive grant program provides intervention, advocacy, accompaniment (e.g., accompanying victims to court, medical facilities, police departments), support services, and related assistance for adult, youth, and child victims of sexual assault, non-offending family and household members of victims, and those collaterally affected by the sexual assault. The program specifically supports projects to create, maintain, and expand sustainable sexual assault services provided by Tribes, tribal organizations, and nonprofit tribal organizations within Indian country and Alaska Native villages.

The Grants to Tribal Governments to Exercise Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction Program

The Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction (STCJ) Grant Program supports Tribal governments in preparing to exercise or exercising STCJ over non-Indians who commit “covered” crimes within the Tribe’s jurisdictional boundaries. “Covered crimes” are: assault of Tribal justice personnel; child violence; dating violence; domestic violence; obstruction of justice; sexual violence; sex trafficking; stalking; and violation of a protection order.

Grants to Indian Tribal Governments Program

This competitive grant program assists Tribal governments (or their authorized designees) to respond to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, and stalking in Tribal communities.

Transitional Housing Assistance Grants for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking Program

This competitive grant program supports programs that provide 6-24 months of transitional housing with support services for victims who are homeless or in need of transitional housing as a result of a situation of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking, and for whom emergency shelter services or other crisis intervention services are unavailable or insufficient.

Sexual Assault Services Culturally Specific Program

This competitive grant program supports nonprofit organizations that focus primarily on culturally specific communities and have experience in the area of sexual assault or who partner with an organization having such expertise. SAS Culturally Specific Program grant funds support culturally specific intervention and related assistance for victims of sexual assault.

Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Program

This competitive grant program provides funds to enhance the safety of rural victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking and to support projects uniquely designed to address and prevent these crimes in rural areas. This program encourages collaboration among criminal justice agencies, victim services providers, social services agencies, health professionals, and other community organizations to overcome the problems of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking in rural communities.

National Deaf Services Program

This competitive grant program works to increase in-person services to domestic violence victims and survivors who are Deaf.