Deadline: 8 March 2017
The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), U.S. Department of Justice, is currently seeking applications for its Domestic Violence Mentor Court Technical Assistance Initiative.
The primary purpose of the OVW Training and Technical Assistance (TA) Initiative is to provide direct TA to existing and potential grantees and sub-grantees to enhance and support their efforts to successfully implement projects supported by OVW grant funds. OVW’s TA is designed to build the national capacity of justice system professionals and victim services organizations to respond effectively to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking and fostering partnerships among organizations that have not traditionally worked together to address violence against women.
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 other courts and court-based programs that wish to significantly improve their court responses to domestic violence cases and ensure victim safety and offender 2 accountability. With years of experience honing strategies that enhance offender accountability and improve victim safety in domestic violence cases, these well-established courts have successfully served as national models and share their expertise by hosting site visits, linking courts with peers facing similar challenges and assisting other domestic violence courts to implement best practices to respond effectively to these difficult cases. In order to continue this effort, OVW is accepting applications for continuation and new Mentor Court projects in FY 2017.
Purpose Areas
In FY 2017, funds under the Mentor Court Initiative must be used by recipients for the following purposes:
- Host site visits from jurisdictions planning domestic violence courts;
- Travel to other jurisdictions to provide on-site technical assistance on developing domestic violence courts;
- Share forms, procedures and protocols;
- Send members of their team to a Mentor Court All Sites Meeting;
- Participate in the OVW Judicial Engagement Network Summit;
- Develop and participate in OVW-sponsored judicial forums and roundtable meetings;
- Respond to technical assistance inquiries from other courts; and
- Collaborate with OVW Technical Assistance Providers, including the Center for Court Innovation and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.
Program Activities
The following activities have been found to jeopardize victim safety, deter or prevent physical or emotional healing for victims, or allow offenders to escape responsibility for their actions:
- Procedures or policies that exclude victims from receiving safe shelter, advocacy services, counseling, and other assistance based on their actual or perceived sex, age, immigration status, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, mental health condition, physical health condition, criminal record, work in the sex industry, or the age and/or gender of their children;
- Policies or procedures that fail to conduct safety planning with victims;
- Sharing confidential victim information with outside organizations and/or individuals without the documented consent of the victims or their non-abusing parents;
- Requiring victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking to file for a protection order or file criminal charges against their abusers as a condition of receiving services;
- Procedures that would penalize victims of violence for failing to testify against their abusers or impose other sanctions on victims. Instead, procedures that provide victims with the opportunity to make an informed choice about whether to testify are encouraged;
- Procedures or policies that deny victims access to services based on their relationship to the perpetrator;
- Referring victims to Child Protection Services (CPS), or another similar state or local agency, solely for failure to protect their minor child when witnessing domestic violence except if required under state law;
- Automatic pre-trial diversion programs;
- Mediation or counseling for couples/families as a systemic response to domestic/family violence;
- Offering anger management classes as a substitute for Batterer’s Intervention Programs for offenders; and
- Failure to provide sanctions against offenders who fail to participate in court-ordered batterer intervention programs.
Award Amounts
- Applicants should not exceed the award amounts listed in this solicitation and should carefully consider the resources needed to successfully implement the proposed project.
- Awards under the Mentor Court Initiative for FY 2017 will be made for up to $75,000.
- OVW has the discretion to award grants for greater or lesser amounts than requested and to negotiate the scope of work and budget with applicants prior to award of a grant.
- The Mentor Court Initiative typically makes awards in the range of $50,000-$75,000 based on the scope of the proposed project. OVW estimates that it will make up to 12 awards for an estimated $800,000.
- Awards will be made as cooperative agreements.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligibility is limited to state, tribal, territorial, or local courts that are either:
- Current OVW Domestic Violence Mentor Court Initiative grantees; or
- Courts with an existing specialized court system for handling domestic violence cases.
How to Apply
Applicants must submit applications online via given website.
Eligibility Country: United States
For more information, please visit Grants.gov.