U.S. Department of Justice: Grants for Outreach and Services to Underserved Populations

The Grants for Outreach and Services to Underserved Populations (Underserved Program) was authorized 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 those victims. Survivors from underserved populations face challenges in accessing comprehensive and effective victim services that fully meet their needs. As a result, survivors of these crimes from underserved communities often do not receive appropriate services. The Underserved Program supports projects to bridge these gaps. The purpose of all grants made by the Underserved Program is to provide or enhance population specific outreach and services to adult and youth victims in one or more underserved populations.

Purpose areas include:

1. Working with federal, state, tribal, territorial and local governments, agencies, and organizations to develop or enhance population specific services
2. Strengthening the capacity of underserved populations to provide population specific services
3. Strengthening the capacity of traditional victim service providers to provide population specific services
4. Strengthening the effectiveness of criminal and civil justice interventions by providing training for law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and other court personnel on domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking in underserved populations
5. Working in cooperation with an underserved population to develop and implement outreach, education, prevention, and intervention strategies that highlight available resources and the specific issues faced by victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking from underserved populations

Priority areas include:

1. Reduce violent crime against women and promote victim safety through investing in law enforcement, increasing prosecution, and promoting effective prevention. To qualify for this priority area, applicants are encouraged to include activities that address purpose area 4 (above).
2. Empower victims to become survivors by growing them past their vulnerabilities to a place of self-sufficiency. Applicants are encouraged to include victim services that go beyond crisis intervention to advance the long-term healing, safety, stability, and self-sufficiency of victims, such as, education assistance, vocational training, employment services, financial counseling, etc.
3. Increase efforts to combat stalking. Applicants are encouraged to address stalking, including the intersection of stalking and use of technology.
4. Address the specific challenges that rural communities face in responding to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
5. Applicants are encouraged to propose projects that serve rural communities. Applications that do so must clearly identify what makes the geographic service area rural and how they will address specific challenges in rural communities.

Population specific organizations and experts from the relevant underserved communities should be central to development and implementation of the proposed project.

Notes:

• The term “population specific services” means victim-centered services that address the safety, health, economic, legal, housing, workplace, immigration, confidentiality, or other needs of victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, and that are designed primarily for and are targeted to a specific underserved population.
• The term “underserved populations” means populations who face barriers in accessing and using victim services, and includes populations underserved because of geographic location, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, underserved racial and ethnic populations, and populations underserved because of special needs (such as language barriers, disabilities, alienage status, or age).

Amount: A total of $4,500,000 is available to make ten awards that range up to $450,000 each.

Eligibility: (1) Population specific organizations that have demonstrated experience and expertise in providing population specific services in the relevant underserved communities, or population specific organizations working in partnership with a victim service provider or domestic violence or sexual assault coalition; (2) victim service providers offering population specific services for a specific underserved population; and (3) victim service providers working in partnership with a national, State, tribal, or local organization that has demonstrated experience and expertise in providing population specific services in the relevant underserved population.

Link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=322698

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