Deadline: 27-Apr-23
The Office on Violence Against Women is seeking applications for 2023 Strengthening Culturally Specific Campus’ Approaches to Address Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Initiative – Solicitation.
The Grants to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on Campus Program (Campus Program) encourages institutions of higher education to develop and strengthen effective security and investigation strategies to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus, develop and strengthen victim services in cases involving such crimes on campus, and develop and strengthen prevention education and awareness programs.
The Campus Program must ensure the equitable distribution of grants to TCUs and HBCUs; and, as a result of the 2022 VAWA reauthorization, a new set aside of 10% is designated for HBCUs. In addition, the FY 2022 and 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Acts created a 50% set aside for HBCUs, TCUs, and HSIs. To support HBCUs, HSIs, and TCUs in strengthening their institutional response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, OVW is launching the Strengthening Culturally Specific Campus’ Approaches to Address Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Initiative (hereinafter referred to as the CSC Initiative).
The project activities will focus on building the capacity of institutions that have never received a Campus Program grant award or whose most recent award was from FY 2017 or earlier to establish culturally relevant strategies in addressing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, including the development of effective response protocols and prevention programming.
Purpose Areas
- Pursuant to funds under this program must be used for one or more of the following purposes:
- To provide personnel, training, technical assistance, data collection, and other equipment with respect to the increased apprehension, investigation, and adjudication of persons committing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus.
- To develop, strengthen, and implement campus policies, protocols, and services that more effectively identify and respond to the crimes of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, including the use of technology to commit these crimes, and to train campus administrators, campus security personnel, and all participants in the resolution process, including personnel from the Title IX coordinator’s office, student conduct office, and campus disciplinary or judicial boards on such policies, protocols, and services that promote a prompt, fair, and impartial investigation.
- To provide prevention and education programming about domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, including technological abuse and reproductive and sexual coercion, that is age-appropriate, culturally relevant, ongoing, delivered in multiple venues on campus, accessible, promotes respectful nonviolent behavior as a social norm, and engages men and boys. Such programming should be developed in partnership or collaboratively with experts in intimate partner and sexual violence prevention and intervention.
- To develop, enlarge, or strengthen victim services programs and population specific services on the campuses of the institutions involved, including programs providing legal, medical, or psychological counseling, for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and to improve delivery of victim assistance on campus. To the extent practicable, such an institution shall collaborate with any victim service providers in the community in which the institution is located. If appropriate victim services programs are not available in the community or are not accessible to students, the institution shall, to the extent practicable, provide a victim services program on campus or create a victim services program in collaboration with a community-based organization. The institution shall use not less than 20 percent of the funds made available through the grant for a victim services program provided in accordance with this paragraph, regardless of whether the services are provided by the institution or in coordination with community victim service providers.
- To create, disseminate, or otherwise provide assistance and information about victims’ options on and off campus to bring disciplinary or other legal action, including assistance to victims in immigration matters.
- To develop, install, or expand data collection and communication systems, including computerized systems, linking campus security to the local law enforcement for the purpose of identifying and tracking arrests, protection orders, violations of protection orders, prosecutions, and convictions with respect to the crimes of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus.
- To provide capital improvements (including improved lighting and communications facilities but not including the construction of buildings) on campuses to address the crimes of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
- To support improved coordination among campus administrators, campus security personnel, and local law enforcement to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus.
- To develop or adapt, provide, and disseminate developmental, culturally appropriate, and linguistically accessible print or electronic materials to address both prevention and intervention in domestic violence, dating violence, sexual violence, and stalking.
- To develop or adapt, and disseminate population-specific strategies and projects for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking from underserved populations on campus.
- To train campus health centers and appropriate campus faculty, such as academic advisors or professionals who deal with students on a daily basis, on how to recognize and respond to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, including training health providers on how to provide universal education to all members of the campus community on the impacts of violence on health and unhealthy relationships and how providers can support ongoing outreach efforts.
- To train campus personnel in how to use a victim-centered, trauma-informed interview technique, which means asking questions of a student or a campus employee who is reported to be a victim of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking, in a manner that is focused on the experience of the reported victim, that does not judge or blame the reported victim for the alleged crime, and that is informed by evidence-based research on trauma response. To the extent practicable, campus personnel shall allow the reported victim to participate in a recorded interview and to receive a copy of the recorded interview.
- To develop and implement restorative practices (as defined in section 40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994).
OVW Priority Areas
- In FY 2023, OVW has five programmatic priorities, of which the priority area(s) identified are applicable to this program. Applicants are strongly encouraged, but not required, to address a priority area. Applications proposing activities in the following area will be given special consideration.
- Improve outreach, services, civil and criminal justice responses, prevention, and support for survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking from underserved communities, particularly LGBTQ and immigrant communities. Applicants seeking to address this priority must develop or enhance prevention and intervention strategies targeting underserved populations i.e., populations who face barriers to accessing services on the applicant’s campus.
- Examples of underserved populations in a campus community can include LGBTQ students or two-spirited students, immigrant communities, students with disabilities,
- Limited English Proficiency students, international students, first-generation students, military-connected students, neurodiverse students, and students who are underserved because of religion, among others. To qualify for this priority area, applicants must include in their proposal narrative, the identified underserved population(s); and relevant partnerships with expertise in working with the identified underserved population(s).
Funding Information
- Award Ceiling: $500,000.
- Period of Performance Duration (Months) 48.
Out-of-Scope Activities
- The activities listed are out of the program scope and will not be supported by thisprogram’s funding. See also the list of unallowable costs in the Funding Restrictions section of this solicitation.
- Research projects. Funds under this program may not be used to conduct research, defined in 28 C.F.R. § 46.102 as a systematic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge. Surveys and focus groups, depending on their design and purpose, may constitute research and therefore be out-of-scope. Prohibited research does not include assessments conducted for internal improvement purposes only. For information on distinguishing between research and assessments, see the Solicitation Companion Guide.
- Projects that focus primarily on alcohol and substance abuse. Activities that focus on sexual harassment issues that do not involve domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
- Education or prevention programs for elementary and secondary students on domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
- Mandatory self-defense classes or self-defense classes as the only means of providing prevention education programs to students.
- Theater performances that do not specifically address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
- Products and/or materials that are not specifically focused on the dynamics of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and campus responses to these crimes.
- Victim assistance not directly related to the victimization. Purchase of anonymous web-based reporting systems (excludes law enforcement incident/report databases) or apps for students.
- Incentives for students to participate in mandatory trainings and climate surveys. (Note: OVW does not discourage incentives for such activities; however, grant funds may not be used for such purposes.)
- Support for Title IX Investigator or Coordinator positions and trainings, conferences, activities, or materials focused primarily on Title IX. (Note: CSC Initiative recipients should nonetheless ensure that they are familiar with and comply with current regulations from the Department of Education on Title IX compliance, available.
- “Do-It-Yourself” sexual assault evidence collection kits.
- For projects proposing legal assistance, criminal defense of victims charged with crimes, except for representation in post-conviction relief proceedings with respect to the conviction of a victim relating to or arising from domestic violence, daring violence, sexual assault, or stalking of the victim.
- For projects proposing legal assistance, representation in tort cases.
Eligibility Criteria
- Pursuant to 34 U.S.C. § 20125, the following entities are eligible to apply for this initiative: Institutions of higher education that are Hispanic Serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Tribal Colleges and Universities.
- An institution of higher education is an educational institution in any state that:
- admits as regular students only persons having a certificate of graduation from a school providing secondary education, or the recognized equivalent of such a certificate; or students who have completed a secondary school education in a home school setting that is treated as a home school or private school under state law;
- is legally authorized within such state to provide a program of education beyond secondary education;
- provides an educational program for which the institution awards a bachelor’s degree or provides not less than a 2-year program that is acceptable for full credit toward such a degree, or awards a degree that is acceptable for admission to a graduate or professional degree program;
- is a public or other nonprofit institution; and
- is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association, or if not so accredited, is an institution that has been granted pre-accreditation status by such an agency or association that has been recognized by the Secretary of Education for the granting of pre-accreditation status, and the Secretary of Education has determined that there is satisfactory assurance that the institution will meet the accreditation standards of such an agency or association within a reasonable time.
- The term “state” means any of the several states and the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Ineligible Entities and Disqualifying Factors
- Applications submitted by ineligible entities or that do not meet all initiative eligibility requirements will not be considered for funding. In addition, an application deemed deficient in one or more of the following categories may not be considered for funding.
- Failure to comply fully with all applicable unique entity identifier and SAM requirements (see Application and Submission section for more information on these requirements) will result in removal from consideration. An applicant with past performance issues, longstanding open audits, or an open criminal investigation also may not be considered for funding.
- Note: Any nonprofit organization that holds money in offshore accounts for the purpose of avoiding paying the tax described in section 511(a) of the Internal Revenue Code is not eligible for a grant from this program.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.