CFPs: Residential and Community-Based Services for Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation (US)

Purpose

• The purpose of this funding opportunity is to support programs for children and transition-age youth through age 24 who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and support their healing through immediate and long-term services. These programs include:
  • emergency residential placements for children and transition-age youth (including programs that build placement capacity within existing residential programs);
  • long-term residential placements for children and transition-age youth (including programs that build capacity within existing residential programs);
  • drop-in centers including street outreach for children and transition-age youth;
  • specialized trauma-responsive behavioral health community services; and
  • innovative services that advance recovery of, and support healing for, survivors.
• Projects seeking to provide the above programs for children and transition-age youth who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation or sex trafficking should apply under this Request for Application.
• Projects seeking to provide services to adults who have been victimized by human trafficking should apply under the General Victims Services Request for Application.

Priorities

• Behavioral Health/Mental Health Services/Substance Use
• Community-Based Programs or Services
• Crisis Services
• Law Enforcement
• Crime Prevention

Funding Information

• Minimum: $10,000
• Maximum: None
• Duration: Projects selected for funding must begin on or after 10/1/2023 and expire on or before 9/30/2024. Projects may not exceed a 12-month project period

Eligible Activities

• Applications should address one of the following program types. All programs must target the needs of commercially sexually exploited children or transition-age youth. Specialized services may be delivered within existing programs serving a broader population.
• Note: Only one Program Type may be selected for each application. Organizations seeking to address multiple Program Types should submit multiple applications.
• Community-Based Drop-in Centers
  • Development, expansion, or enhancement of a drop-in center which may include street outreach programs for children or transition-age youth who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation or are victims of crime that place them at high risk for of commercial sexual exploitation. The project must provide tangible and felt-safety, safety planning, individualized and immediate trauma-responsive assessment and case management including connecting the survivor to needed medical and behavioral health care, legal and other resources, counseling, support groups, relationship building opportunities in a nonjudgmental environment, and assistance with securing emergency and long-term residential services. Center access must reflect days and times when survivors would be most vulnerable to trafficking recruitment or exploitation, and when law enforcement would refer recovered youth to the center for services.
• Emergency Residential Placements
  • Development, expansion, or enhancement of a program that provides emergency placement for community children, children in the care of DFPS, and/or Juvenile Justice, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The program must provide physical safety, safety planning, individualized and immediate trauma-responsive behavioral healthcare, legal, educational, vocational, and housing resources, community and relationship-building opportunities in an empowering, non-judgmental environment, and re-engagement after runaway episodes or other disruptions in placement or services. Programs must identify strategies to promote survivor’s tangible safety and felt safety. Clinical, behavioral milieu, and service planning approaches must follow recognized promising practices or evidence-based programs. Stabilization and Assessment Centers providing brief placements for highly dysregulated survivors are included in this category.
• Long-term Residential Placements
  • Development, expansion, or enhancement of a program that provides long-term treatment foster care or residential treatment for both system-involved and non-system involved children and transition-age youth who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation. Programs must provide access to intensive case management and wraparound facilitation, 24-hour clinical and behavioral crisis services, safety planning, individualized and immediate trauma-responsive case management (including connecting survivors to needed medical and behavioral healthcare, legal, educational, and vocational resources), community and relationship building opportunities in an empowering, non-judgmental environment, and reengagement after missing events or other disruptions in placement or services. Residential programs for transition-age youth must support empowerment through services that engage survivors in vocational and educational opportunities in the community. Strategies employed in clinical, behavioral milieu, and all other service planning must follow recognized promising practices or evidence-based programs.
• Specialized Trauma-Responsive Behavioral Health Services
  • Development or expansion of mental and behavioral health services. Services to this targeted population may be provided within programs serving victims of other crimes and/or other causes of complex trauma. Therapeutic modalities must utilize recognized promising practices or evidence-based interventions. Preference will be given to programs utilizing the Wraparound approach and those that provide crisis behavioral intervention services, support for survivors living at home or in DFPS-approved placement, and services for youth without access to public funding for healthcare.
• Innovative Services for Commercially Sexually Exploited Persons (CSEP)
  • Consideration will be given to a limited number of innovative services for survivors that do not fit into one of the five program types above. Applicants are strongly encouraged to identify and collaborate with one of the five activity types in this Funding Announcement. Applicants must designate the organization(s) and program(s) that will benefit directly from this innovative service, the target population that will benefit, the survivor outcomes that will be different because of this innovation, and any research that supports the effectiveness of the service for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation.

Eligibility Criteria

• Entities receiving grant funds must demonstrate a record of effective services to victims of crime and financial support from sources other than the Crime Victims Fund; or substantial support from sources other than the Crime Victims Fund.
  • A program has demonstrated a record of effective direct services and support when, for example, it demonstrates the support and approval of its direct services by the community, its history of providing direct services in a cost-effective manner, and the breadth or depth of its financial support from sources other than the Crime Victims Fund.
  • A program has substantial financial support from sources other than the Crime Victims Fund when at least twenty-five percent of the program’s funding in the year of, or the year preceding the award comes from such sources.
• Local governments determined to not be in compliance with the cybersecurity requirements of the Texas Government Code are ineligible for OOG grant funds until the second anniversary of the date the local government is determined ineligible. Government entities must annually certify their compliance with the training requirements using the Cybersecurity Training Certification for State and Local Governments.
• Entities receiving funds from PSO must be located in a county that has an average of 90% or above on both adult and juvenile dispositions entered into the computerized criminal history database maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) as directed in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The disposition completeness percentage is defined as the percentage of arrest charges a county reports to DPS for which a disposition has been subsequently reported and entered into the computerized criminal history system. Counties applying for grant awards from the Office of the Governor must commit that the county will report at least 90% of convictions within five business days to the Criminal Justice Information System at the Department of Public Safety.
• Eligible applicants operating a law enforcement agency must be current on reporting complete UCR data and the Texas specific reporting mandated to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) for inclusion in the annual Crime in Texas (CIT) publication. To be considered eligible for funding, applicants must have submitted a full twelve months of accurate data to DPS for the most recent calendar year by the deadline(s) established by DPS. Due to the importance of timely reporting, applicants are required to submit complete and accurate UCR data, as well as the Texas mandated reporting, on a no less than monthly basis and respond promptly to requests from DPS related to the data submitted.
• Local units of government, including cities, counties and other general purpose political subdivisions, as appropriate, and institutions of higher education that operate a law enforcement agency, must comply with all aspects of the programs and procedures utilized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to: (1) notify DHS of all information requested by DHS related to illegal aliens in Agency’s custody; and (2) detain such illegal aliens in accordance with requests by DHS. Additionally, counties and municipalities may NOT have in effect, purport to have in effect, or make themselves subject to or bound by, any law, rule, policy, or practice (written or unwritten) that would: (1) require or authorize the public disclosure of federal law enforcement information in order to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection fugitives from justice or aliens illegally in the United States; or (2) impede federal officers from exercising authority. Lastly, eligible applicants must comply with all provisions, policies, and penalties.
• Each non-profit 501(c)(3) organization must certify that it does not have, and will continue not to have any policy, procedure, or agreement (written or unwritten) that in any way encourages, induces, entices, or aids any violations of immigration laws. Additionally, the organization certifies that it does not have in effect, purport to have in effect, and is not subject to or bound by any rule, policy, or practice (written or unwritten) that would: (1) encourage the concealment, harboring, or shielding from detection of fugitives from justice or aliens who illegally came to, entered, or remained in the United States; or (2) impede federal officers from exercising authority. Lastly, the organization certifies that it will not adopt, enforce, or endorse a policy which prohibits or materially limits the enforcement of immigration laws, and will not, as demonstrated by pattern or practice, prohibit or materially limit the enforcement of immigration laws.
• Eligible applicants must be registered in the federal System for Award Management (SAM).
• Eligible applicants will be required to provide regular reports reflecting the financial status of the grant, performance measures for services delivered, survivors assisted, service outcomes after discharge, and other selected metrics, and engagement with activities of care coordination where applicable. Applicants may be required to separate reports by program type, even if multiple awards are consolidated into one grant.
• Eligible applicants will be required to adhere to relevant Guiding Principles for the Child Sex Trafficking Team and its partners, where applicable. CSTT’s Guiding Principles are:
  • We treat individuals who have experienced exploitation as victims and survivors, not perpetrators.
  • We are collaborative.
  • We are survivor informed.
  • Our systems and programs prioritize the needs of children and transition-age youth who have experienced exploitation and strive to give equal access to services regardless of system involvement.
  • We seek to prevent exploitation by educating the public, supporting protective factors for all children and transition-age youth, and by building resiliency among the most vulnerable.
  • Our approaches, systems and services are trauma-informed, responsive, and include trust based relationships.
  • We develop and support community-based, sustainable resources and services.
  • We are committed to long-term individualized services, including planning for, and reengaging with, children and transition-age youth after relapse.
  • We research the causes of and effective responses to exploitation and we evaluate and continuously improve our activities.
  • We work to prevent and reduce demand for exploitation and to hold all exploiters, including facilitators, and those who benefit from exploitation accountable.
• Eligible applicants will be required to implement the CSE-IT (Commercial Sexual Exploitation Identification Tool) screening tool, where applicable. The CSE-IT, Trafficking Victims Identification Tool (TVIT), and/or other OOG-approved screening tools for adult presumed trafficking victimization will be required to determine eligibility for services funded by this award.
• Eligible applicants will be required to collect and submit de-identified survey responses from survivors that have been developed by OOG.
• Eligible applicants for emergency and/or long-term residential services for CSEY must have:
  • A current Residential Child Care License to operate a Child-Placing Agency or General Residential Operation providing emergency care, treatment services, and/or multiple services, and
  • DFPS contract for residential services with the State of Texas, serving foster youth at the Intense Plus, Intense or Specialized Level of Care, or a contract in good standing for residential services with county juvenile probation departments in closest proximity to the residential operations proposed for this service, or
  • Substantial positive operational experience providing specialized residential care for trafficked youth AND successful outcomes outside of the State of Texas.
• Eligible applicants for emergency and/or long-term residential services for transition-age youth survivors of trafficking must:
  • Be in good standing with all state licensing, regulatory, and zoning bodies,
  • Meet Texas Minimum Construction Standards of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) (new facilities),
  • Follow board approved resident and staff grievance policies and procedures that indicate periodic engagement with Board of Directors or other third party for quality improvement review
  • Employ part or full-time licensed mental health clinicians for routine clinical and emergency behavioral services
  • Identify the specific recognized promising practice or evidence-based models for programmatic, skills-building, and clinical services that empower and build agency with survivors,
  • Indicate a track record of successfully transitioning survivors into the community by their achieving educational, housing, and/or economic goals. Provide a de-identified/aggregate discharge outcomes report for one or more immediately prior years
• Eligible applicants for non-residential drop-in and street outreach services for children and transition-age youth must have:
  • Experience providing identical or similar services, including, but not limited to emergency shelter for runaway and homeless youth (RHY), or
  • Experience providing professional assessment or crisis services (e.g., licensed mental health or medical care) on a walk-in basis to marginalized populations of youth (e.g. LGBT youth), or
  • Experience operating a federally funded street outreach or trafficking outreach program.
• Eligible applicants for funding of specialized trauma-responsive behavioral health community services must have:
  • Applicable professional licensure for providers of clinical services,
  • Certification in and experience providing counseling and/or other therapeutic services with individuals experiencing symptoms of Complex-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) and similar conditions, and
  • Ability to provide services that are responsive to survivors’ needs such as crisis support, flexible hours, or off-site service delivery.
• Eligible applicants for funding of innovative services must have:
  • Experience providing identical or similar services for children and transition-age youth who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, or sexual assault in the same or nearby county in which innovative services are proposed, or
  • Endorsement in writing by local trafficking coalition, task force, or care coordination team that includes law enforcement, for the innovative service proposed, and
  • Letters of endorsement and MOU or other agreement(s) with benefiting organization(s), describing the innovative services to be provided, the outputs and outcomes projected, and the organizational commitments established under this agreement.
• Failure to comply with program or eligibility requirements may cause funds to be withheld and/or the suspension or termination of grant funds.
• Eligible Organizations
  • Applications may be submitted by state agencies, public and private non-profit institutions of higher education, independent school districts, Native American tribes, non-profit corporations (including hospitals and faith-based organizations) and units of local government, which are defined as a non- statewide governmental body with the authority to establish a budget and impose taxes (includes hospital districts). Other local governmental agencies should apply through an associated unit of local government.
  • Additional eligibility requirements for grant applicants for all service types include: A) a track record of successful operations of the same or similar services for which funding is being pursued and, B) a positive history with, or the absence of a negative history with, OOG grants performance and management.

Program-Specific Requirements

All projects under this funding announcement must meet the following requirements:

• Cultural Competency
  • Applicants must be culturally competent when providing services to victims. Victim service providers must have the ability to blend cultural knowledge and sensitivity with victim restoration skills for a more effective and culturally appropriate recovery process. Cultural competency occurs when: (1) cultural knowledge, awareness and sensitivity are integrated into action and policy; (2) the service is relevant to the needs of the community and provided by trained staff, board members, and management; and (3) an advocate or organization recognizes each client is different with unique needs, feelings, ideas and barriers.
• Community Support
  • Applicant organizations must demonstrate robust community support for their project. This should include executed letters of intent or memorandums of agreement from partner organizations; a law enforcement task force, police department, or sheriff’s office; and the local Care Coordination Advisory Council, if present.
• Victim Services Assessment Survey
  • All recipients of funding under this announcement may be required to participate in a victim services assessment during their grant period, as directed by PSO.
• Special Requirements for Vehicle Purchases
  • Only non-profits will be eligible to purchase vehicles under this funding announcement. The vehicles must be for the purpose of transporting victims to receive various services. Applicants must explain in their eGrants application how the vehicles will be utilized and how that strengthens their delivery of victim services.

Selection Process

• For eligible local and regional projects:
  • Applications with regional or local scope will be forwarded by PSO to the appropriate regional council of governments (COG).
  • The COG will give each application under this RFA a score from 1-5 based on how well the proposed program meets the requirements above and on factors including the program’s ability to meet state and community priorities and the program’s cost-effectiveness.
  • PSO will take into consideration the COG’s score and will make all final funding decisions based upon eligibility, program requirements, quality of the grant application, state and local priorities, availability of funding, and cost-effectiveness.
• Projects with a statewide scope will be reviewed by PSO staff or a review group selected by the executive director. PSO will make all final funding decisions based on eligibility, program requirements, quality of the grant application, state priorities, availability of funding, and cost effectiveness.

For more information, visit CAPCOG.