OVW Fiscal Year 2021 Grants to Enhance Culturally Specific Services for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Program Solicitation | O OVW 2021 36007

Opportunity Information: Apply for O OVW 2021 36007

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) Fiscal Year 2021 Grants to Enhance Culturally Specific Services for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Program, often referred to as the Culturally Specific Services Program (CSSP), is a discretionary federal grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice. It is authorized under 34 U.S.C. 20124 and listed under CFDA 16.016. The core purpose of the program is to strengthen and expand victim services that are specifically designed for communities that often face barriers when trying to access mainstream victim service systems. In practice, the program funds community-based efforts that reflect the language, culture, and lived realities of the people being served, with an emphasis on improving safety, access to support, and long-term stability for victims and survivors.

A central feature of this solicitation is its focus on "culturally specific services." Under 34 U.S.C. 12291(a)(7), culturally specific services are defined as community-based services that provide culturally relevant and linguistically specific services and resources to culturally specific communities. The term "culturally specific" is further defined in 34 U.S.C. 12291(a)(6) as primarily directed toward racial and ethnic minority groups as defined in 42 U.S.C. 300u-6(g). That statutory definition includes American Indians (including Alaska Natives, Eskimos, and Aleuts), Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, Blacks, and Hispanics. The intent behind these definitions is to ensure funded projects are not generic outreach efforts, but instead are led by, grounded in, and responsive to the communities they serve, including through language access, culturally rooted advocacy approaches, and services designed around community norms and needs.

The program supports two broad types of work. First, it funds the maintenance and replication of successful existing community-based programs that already provide effective culturally specific services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Second, it supports the development of innovative culturally specific strategies aimed at increasing access to services and resources for victims who face obstacles using more traditional programs. This can include addressing barriers such as language differences, immigration-related concerns, distrust of systems due to discrimination or prior harm, geographic isolation, stigma, or a lack of culturally competent providers. Overall, the grant is meant to help organizations build on what works, scale proven approaches, and fill service gaps with practical, community-informed solutions.

Eligible applicants, as listed in the solicitation, include Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments), nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education), nonprofit organizations without 501(c)(3) status (also other than institutions of higher education), and other entities as described in the opportunity's additional eligibility information. The administering agency is the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women, and the funding activity category is Law, Justice and Legal Services. The opportunity was created on January 22, 2021, with an original closing date of March 9, 2021.

In terms of award structure, the solicitation lists an award ceiling of $300,000 and an expectation of approximately 22 awards. While the text provided does not outline exact project periods or required match, it does signal that OVW ties awards to program goals and reporting expectations through its performance measurement framework. Applicants are directed to OVW program information resources, including the OVW Grants and Programs webpage and the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative materials, which outline performance measures and how OVW tracks the impact of funded projects. The solicitation also points readers to examples of successful projects in OVW's 2018 Biennial Report to Congress on the effectiveness of VAWA grant programs, which is intended to help applicants understand the types of activities and outcomes OVW views as effective.

Taken together, this grant opportunity is designed to invest in culturally grounded, community-based organizations and approaches that can reach victims and survivors who might otherwise be left without effective support. Its emphasis is not only on providing direct services, but on ensuring those services are accessible, trusted, linguistically appropriate, and shaped by the cultural context of the communities most impacted and most often underserved by traditional victim service models.

• The Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "OVW Fiscal Year 2021 Grants to Enhance Culturally Specific Services for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Program Solicitation" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.016.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 22, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 09, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 22 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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