OVC FY 2022 Advancing the Use of Technology to Assist Victims of Crime

OVC FY 2022 Advancing the Use of Technology to Assist Victims of Crime

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DARYL FOX: Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to today's webinar, Advancing the Use of Technology to Assist Victims of Crime, hosted by the Office for Victims of Crime. At this time, it's my pleasure to introduce Ivette Estrada, Grants Management Specialist with the Office for Victims of Crime to begin the presentation. Ivette? IVETTE ESTRADA: Thank you.

And good afternoon everyone or good morning wherever you are. And welcome to OVC's Fiscal Year 2022 Advancing the Use of Technology to Assist Victims of Crime pre-application webinar. My name is Ivette Estrada. I'm a Grant Program Specialist with OVC in the Discretionary Programs Division, which oversees OVC's discretionary programs that seek to improve quality of service, capacity to deliver services, and access to services for victims of crime through demonstration initiatives and national scope program.

A little bit about me, I've been with the Department of Justice for almost 18 years. The last 10 years of those have been with OVC. My grant portfolio includes sexual assault, human trafficking, and many of OVC's technology-based initiatives including our national hotline and Advancing the Use of Technology Program. For today's webinar, I plan to cover the following areas. I'll provide an overview of OVC and our mission. I'll break down the major components of the solicitation specifically the purpose, goal, and objectives of this program, eligibility, the application timeline, and required documents.

I'll also talk about the application process and wrap up with questions and answers. The Office for Victims of Crime administers the Crime Victims Fund, which is financed by fines and penalties paid by convicted federal offenders and not from tax dollars. OVC channels that money towards victim compensation and assistance throughout the United States, raises awareness about victims' issues, promotes compliance with victims' rights laws, and provides training and technical assistance and publications and products to victim assistance professionals. Through the Crime Victims Fund, OVC programs support victims in tribal communities, state victim compensation and assistance programs, delivery of training and technical assistance and information resources, support for victims of human trafficking, and national scope demonstration and service projects.

Applications for this solicitation will be submitted to DOJ in two steps. First, applicants will need to submit the required application for federal assistance and a disclosure of lobbying activities forms in Grants.gov by the deadline date of May 26th, 2022. The second step is to then submit your full application in JustGrants by the JustGrants application deadline of June 2nd, 2022. DOJ expects to make awards no later than September 30th, 2022. And if you are funded, anticipate that your project will have a start date on or after October 1st, 2022.

Eligible applicants include state governments, city or township governments, public- and state-controlled institutions of higher education, county governments, Native American Tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments, Native American Tribal governments federally recognized, nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS other than institutions of higher ed, nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS other than institutions of higher ed, private institutions of higher education, and other. And for purposes of the solicitation, the category other means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are all eligible to apply. OVC is interested in applications that demonstrate innovative strategies to create, expand, or enhance the use of technology to interact directly with crime victims, improve the quality of services, and improve the accessibility and responsiveness of victim service organizations. Note that this solicitation has funded national hotlines in the past.

However, this year, OVC created a separate solicitation titled Building Capacity of National Crisis Hotlines that focuses solely on enhancing or expanding the capacity of national hotlines. And that funding opportunity for the national hotline was posted on April 20th, so you can find the solicitation on OVC's website. So for the purposes of this program, it will focus only on innovative technology solutions that improve and increase access to victim services.

There are a couple of focus areas in the solicitation as well, so applicants are encouraged to focus on but are not limited to applications that focus on addressing online gender-based abuse and harassment, offering program or services that respond to online facilitated gender-based violence, and using technology to make services safe and more accessible and that reach communities that are traditionally underserved. The goals of this program are to increase access to victim services and improve the quality of services as well as build the capacity of victim service providers to meet the needs of crime survivors through technological innovation. Applicants will achieve these goals through the following six objectives. Conduct strategic planning activities to identify gaps in technology that can be enhanced by building the organization's technological capacity. Implement technological enhancements to strengthen the organization's response to victims that will ensure high-quality services that are centered in victim safety and confidentiality and privacy as well. Support staff through training on the technology platform, and the organization's confidentiality and privacy guidelines appropriate to the services provided and populations served.

The other objectives are to engage with local, state, and community stakeholders to share information, resources, and lessons learned; provide training and public awareness activities for professionals and community members just to increase awareness of the program; conduct data collection; and engage in evaluation activities to determine the effectiveness of the program and whether it is meeting the identified goals and objectives. Perfect. The deliverables can be the development of web applications, management information systems, interactive websites, or any improvement or enhancement that uses technology to provide the service or support the program. Additional grant deliverables include establishment of criteria to best determine strategies and effective collaboration models for planning, implementing, and evaluating the proposed technological innovation; development of a staff training plan; development of outreach and public awareness strategies; development of a training and technical assistance plan; development of an evaluation plan to measure project effectiveness; and achieving the goals, objectives, and any identified outcomes; and signed letters of intent or MOUs with key partners.

OJP is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community. Priority consideration supporting Executive Order 13985: Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government. So consistent with this executive term--I'm sorry, this executive order. The term underserved community refers to a population sharing a particular characteristic as well as a geographic community that has been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life, or whose members have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality. Such communities include, among others, Black people, Hispanics, and Latino people, Native American and other indigenous peoples of North America, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. In support of this executive order, OJP will give priority consideration to A, applications that include projects that will promote racial equity and the removal of barriers to access an opportunity for communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality when making award decisions.

To receive consideration under priority A, the applicant must describe how the proposed project will address potential inequities and barriers to equal opportunity and/or contribute to greater access to services for underserved and historically marginalized populations. OJP will also give priority consideration under area B to applicants that can demonstrate that their capabilities and competencies for implementing their proposed projects are enhanced because the applicant or at least one proposed subrecipient that will receive at least 30% of the requested funding identifies as a culturally specific organization. So to receive this additional priority consideration, applicants must describe how being a culturally specific organization or funding the culturally specific subrecipient organization will enhance their ability to implement the proposed project and should also specify which culturally specific populations are intended or expected to be served or to have their needs addressed under their proposed project. Note that addressing these priority areas is one of many factors that OJP considers in making funding decisions.

Receiving priority consideration for one or more of these priority areas is not a guarantee of an award. If you choose to be considered under one or both priority areas, you will need to document this in your proposal abstract which I will talk more about shortly. The federal award amount information. The total amount that has been allocated toward this program is $3 million. OVC expects to make four awards under this program at no more than $750,000 for each award.

So that's the maximum that you can apply for is $750,000. However, you do not need to request the full amount. These are three-year awards. If you are funded, again, your award start date will be October 1st, 2022.

OVC may in certain cases provide additional funding in future years to awards made under this solicitation through continuation awards. OJP will consider among other factors, OJP's strategic priorities, the recipient's overall management of the award, and the award-funded work's progress when making continuation award decisions. And all awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and to any modification or additional requirements that may be imposed by law. OVC may choose to make discretionary awards in the form of grants or cooperative agreements. OVC expects to make awards under this solicitation as a cooperative agreement, which means that substantial involvement is expected between OVC and the award recipient when carrying out project activities.

Generally under cooperative agreement awards, the responsibility for the day-to-day conduct of the funded project rests with the recipient in implementing the funded and approved proposal and budget, as well as the award terms and conditions. And then the responsibility for oversight and redirection of the project if necessary rests with OVC. So if you are awarded, you will be required to work with the assigned OVC Grant Manager, who is OVC's authorized representative responsible for ensuring the successful management of the award during the project performance. Okay. We'll now transition to application and submission information.

The following application elements must be included in the application submission for an application to meet the basic minimum requirements to advance to peer review and receive consideration for funding. So the first is the proposal abstract, the proposal narrative, and then the budget worksheet and budget narrative, so those three must be included in your application to be considered for funding. Applications that meet basic minimum requirements will be evaluated by peer reviewers. On this slide, you'll also see under the proposal narrative and budget, there are review criteria or percentages right next to these sections.

So for example, the description of the issue is 20%, project design is 35%, capabilities and competencies 20%, data collection 10%, and the budget 15%. If you fail to submit any of the required documents, your application will not be considered for funding. And I'll go through each of these documents. A proposal abstract of no more than 400 words should be submitted and it should summarize the proposed project to include the purpose of the project, the primary activities, the expected outcomes, the service area, intended beneficiaries, and subrecipients if known. And all of this will be completed in the JustGrants web-based form. This abstract should be written in the third person and it will be made publicly available on the OJP website if the project is awarded.

And if you are requesting priority consideration, you'll need to indicate the priority area, either 1A and/or 1B. So if you're applying for that consideration, you'll want to include it here in the proposal abstract. The proposal narrative should be submitted as an attachment in JustGrants. The narrative document should be double-spaced, using a standard 12-point Times New Roman font, have no less than 1-inch margins, and should not exceed 25 pages. The pages should be numbered.

So you'll want to adhere to all of these formatting requirements. And again, if the proposal narrative fails to comply with these length restrictions, OVC may consider such noncompliance in peer review and in final award decision. The following sections must be included as part of the proposal narrative and that is the description of the issue, project design, capabilities and competencies, and a data collection plan. Each section has a review criteria.

So it's really important to address all four sections. And one application tip is to outline all of the grant requirements and make a plan to fulfill each and every requirement so that you don't miss any of these sections. The description of the issue is the first section under the proposal narrative. You will want to describe the significance and value of your proposed project, include data to provide evidence that the need for the effort exists, as well as demonstrate the scope and size of the need. You'll also want to describe how this funding opportunity will help address the issues that are stated in this section. You'll want to also address how your proposed project will address gaps and services and not duplicate any existing program.

For the project design and implementation section, your proposed strategy should address the needs identified in the previous description of the issue section, and include goals, objectives, and activities that are aligned with the solicitation goals and objectives which I covered in the previous slides. You want to create solid goals and ensure that your objectives are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. In this section, you are also required to provide a timetable just indicating roughly when activities or project milestones are to be accomplished. You'll want to set a realistic timeline to implement your strategy and remember that the timeframe should cover the duration of the 36-month project period. Finally, and we probably should have added this to the slide but if you are seeking priority consideration for area 1A, you should address within this section how the proposed project will promote racial equity and/or the removal of barriers to access and opportunity for communities that have been historically underserved. Applicants should describe its capabilities and competencies to accomplish the goals and objectives of their proposed project, such as describing the management structure of the program, how the program will be managed, and background information of personnel responsible for managing and implementing the project.

You can include an organizational chart or information describing personnel. A list of the proposed staff members that will be involved in the project should also be included and if additional staff will be hired, applicants should identify the selection criteria. The project director must also have both the substantive expertise and experience to perform crucial leadership functions and sufficient time to devote to the project to provide the needed guidance and supervision. Job descriptions and copies of resumes for proposed key staff positions should be included as separate attachment. Finally, if you are seeking priority consideration under 1B, you should describe within this section how being a culturally specific organization or funding a culturally specific subrecipient organization at a minimum of 30% of the project budget will enhance your ability to implement the proposed project.

Performance measures are parameters against which progress toward goals can be assessed and consist of your program's inputs, activities, outputs, and outcome. While this data satisfies the reporting requirements of your grant, it also provides an excellent opportunity to assess your program and your agency's processes. As a first step, review your program's performance measures, focusing on the numbers, narrative, or other data you will need to collect to answer the questions posed by OVC. Once you have a firm understanding of the types of data you will collect, you can then formulate a plan for how your organization will collect data and report back to OVC. The performance measures for this solicitation can be found on our website at ovc.ojp.gov.

But in this section of your proposal, you will want to describe the process for measuring and reporting project performance. You'll want to identify who will collect the data and who's responsible for reporting on performance measurements. And you'll describe how the information will be used to guide and evaluate the impact of the project. If you are funded, OVC will require award recipients to submit quarterly performance measure data in the performance measurement tool, and separately submit semi-annual reports in JustGrants.

And OVC can provide further guidance on the post-award submission process if you are selected for an award. The budget worksheet and budget narrative. You will complete the budget in JustGrants through the web-based form. You will want to break out costs by year reflecting 36 months total of project activity. The budget should also be mathematically sound and aligned with the project design and information described in your proposal narrative.

If you are seeking priority consideration under 1B, based on the identification of at least one proposed subrecipient as a culturally specific organization, the funding for the subrecipient in the web-based form must be a minimum of 30% of the award funding. The budget narrative must also describe how the activities that will be funded with the minimum 30% to the subrecipient relate to the priority consideration requested under priority area 1B and described in the capabilities and competencies section under the proposed narrative. Just like your objectives need to be smart, so does your budget. So your budget also needs to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. This means that you'll want to be specific when listing all your subcategories.

When you utilize the web-based budget form you'll be able to adhere to measuring your budget appropriately, this is under the computation column of the budget. And to ensure that your budget items are achievable, your budget needs to make sense. So for example, is there enough work for your Project Director to be hired at a full-time basis? On the flip side, do you have ample resources included in your budget to meet the objectives? If there is required training for two staff to attend a 3-day training in Washington, DC, and your organization is based in California, you will want to factor all costs for that. If you put your timeline next to your budget, and are sure that each item is accounted for, then your budget should be relevant. If you listed hiring a Project Director in your timeline and discussed the Project Director's role in your project design, then it would be relevant to include a Project Director in your budget.

On the other hand, if you do not include the Project Director in your timeline or project design, then it would not be completely relevant to include in your budget. So make sure your budget is listed again year-by-year or month-by-month. Some grant periods are less than a year and only for specific seasons. But this program is for 3 years. So it's important to budget for the whole duration of the project period. This screen lists other documents to be included as mentioned on the application checklist of the solicitation.

You can find this checklist on the last page of the solicitation. And you can use this checklist as part of your review prior to submitting your application. The DOJ application submission checklist is just another resource to aid you in developing your application. So remember when you are developing your proposal narrative and budget, use simple and concise language. Information should be presentable and organized, be realistic about how you will achieve goals, and get feedback from those who are actually running the project.

We wanted to highlight common reasons cited for a weak application. And this is typically what we will hear from peer reviewers, we'll hear that it's too ambitious or lacks focus, that the applicant lacks appropriate expertise to carry out the proposed project, that there's no evidence of feasibility. So you can't assume that the peer reviewers are familiar with your project, so you'll want to explain certain aspects of your program. And poor writing, typos, and a lot of grammatical errors.

One other reason that is cited for a weak application that's not on here and I've typically seen it, is that there are no citations or a source for any data that's included in your proposal. So all of this is to say is just to remember to adhere to the solicitation requirements. So now we're going to go over the application process.

The application process is done in two steps. First, applicants will need to submit the required application for federal assistance standard form, which is the SF-424, and a disclosure of lobbying activities, which is the SF-LLL form, in Grants.gov. These two forms must be submitted in Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on May 26th, 2022. The full application must then be submitted in JustGrants by 8:59 p.m. eastern time on June 2nd, 2022. The process of submitting an application in JustGrants begins in Grants.gov. Once you have located a funding opportunity with DOJ, you will submit an SF-424 and SF-LLL in Grants.gov.

This is the extent of the application requirements in Grants.gov. Aside from the SF-424 and the SF-LLL, most of your application will be entered in JustGrants. Your entity information is populated based upon entries made in SAM.gov and used in Grants.gov. Since the application submission process is done in two steps, you will have two application submission deadlines.

One is for Grants.gov and one is for JustGrants. Each solicitation has an application submission deadline in Grants.gov. After this date, the solicitation is removed from Grants.gov and no one will be able to apply any longer.

It is highly recommended that you check the due date in Grants.gov and try to submit at least 72 hours prior to the deadline to provide you with enough time to correct any errors and resubmit if necessary. Once the application has been submitted and validated in Grants.gov, it's then sent to JustGrants for completion. And this can take several days for Grants.gov to complete validation and release it to JustGrants. JustGrants has its own submission deadline, typically two weeks longer than the Grants.gov deadline. For example, if your due date in Grants.gov is May 1st then you have until May 15th to

complete the application in JustGrants. So submitting early in both systems is strongly recommended. The JustGrants submission should include all items that are required in the solicitation. And the JustGrants application submission is final. It's okay to enter preliminary information in Grants.gov if you haven't fully determined

your budget or project scope, because you will be able to edit and update all your entries in JustGrants. Some of the ways that JustGrants streamlines the processes that you are provided with the ability to use a web-based budget worksheet. And not only is this process more efficient, but it also establishes a shared structure and narrative for all of DOJ. Streamlined validation of your budget allows the process of clearing and approving new budgets much faster.

And one other note is that your organization specifically your assigned Entity Administrator has more control over users and award assignments, and does not require intervention from DOJ to make updates to those assignments. The Entity Administrator defaults to your organization's electronic business point of contact or the EBiz POC, which is the person that can reassign the responsibilities to another user as needed. Grants.gov provides access to funding opportunities for multiple government agencies and it is not managed by DOJ. So if you have questions about Grants.gov, you will need to contact their help desk for support. So again, just going to be going over the two-step application process here. The first step to submitting your application is to apply in Grants.gov.

In Grants.gov, you will select the option to apply for grants. Remember that the Grants.gov login is separate from your JustGrants login. You will log in Grants.gov using the email address you want to receive notification. There is a workspace icon that will allow you access to funding opportunities. Once you've determined a funding opportunity and applied, you will receive notifications from Grants.gov confirming the receipt of the SF-424, which is your application for federal assistance form.

And it will state whether the SF-424 and the SF-LLL were validated and submitted, or were rejected with errors. The notification will include an explanation for any errors. This is why it's a good idea to submit in Grants.gov at least 48 hours prior to the deadline to give you the time you need to correct any errors. Remember that you will not be able to correct errors or continue with the application process once the deadline in Grants.gov has passed. The second step is again to submit the full application, including attachments, in JustGrants.

And on the screen here you'll see the website to access JustGrants, which is JustGrants.usdoj.gov. There are certain web-based forms that must be submitted directly into the system. Your proposal abstract and budget are web-based forms.

So for those who are return users, you will need to submit your goals, objectives, deliverables, and timelines just like before, which is directly through the system. Make sure your budget information is included in the budget detail form. And lastly, your disclosure of duplication in cost items.

If a section is required and presents you with web-based entries, that's an indicator that you cannot upload a document, you'll need to use the format required in the application. After you have submitted your application, you're probably wondering what's next. Once all the applications for the solicitation have been reviewed, then the entity will be notified if they have received an award, which will happen before September 30th.

Please remember who your Entity Administrator and Authorized Representative are for they will be notified if the application deadline is changed. The system will also notify the Application Submitter, the Entity Administrator, and Authorized Representative when the application has been received in JustGrants from Grants.gov. And the Entity Administrator will receive notification on when the award notification has been sent if you are funded. If you have submitted your application, the status will be shown as submitted. You may also see a banner that indicates that it is past due.

This banner indicates that the submission deadline has passed, not that your application is past due. So if your status shows submitted, that means that your application has been received by DOJ, so you can ignore the past due banner. JustGrants offers training resources on the DOJ website. Once you've selected a topic to explore, you'll open a page with training resources dedicated to that topic. Typically, you'll find a job aid reference guide and links to step-by-step videos.

These are very short videos, they are meant to be used while you are working, so don't feel like you need to set aside a lot of time to view them. They can really be helpful, especially if you're in the middle of a task in JustGrants and want to verify the next steps. The job aid reference guide provides step-by step-instructions with screenshots as well to help you walk through a particular path. You can print these or view them on your screen depending on how you like to work. They are really a great reference to verifying next steps. And there are two new quick reference guides in the performance reporting topic.

And the first is navigating to a performance report and the second is submitting a performance report. So please check out those resources. To provide targeted assistance to applicants applying for DOJ funding opportunities, the JustGrants team is offering office hour sessions on the application submission process.

These office hour sessions are held every Wednesday from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. eastern time. You can find these sessions on the JustGrants website at justicegrants.usdoj.gov/training. This solicitation also incorporates the OJP Grant Application Resource Guide by reference. This guide provides a lot of guidance to applicants in the preparation and submission of applications to OJP for funding. To assist potential applicants in developing strong proposals in response to our current funding opportunities, OVC hosts educational webinars for interested stakeholders to learn more about the project objectives and submission requirements. A question and answer session is held before the conclusion of every webinar.

So you can sign up for news from OVC to stay up to date on webinars as they are scheduled. This is a list of important websites that have been referenced during my presentation and are referenced throughout the solicitation. These are great resources for you as you prepare your application.

So we have here our website, the OVC website, the DOJ Grants Financial Guide, JustGrants, the Grants.gov website, the OJP Grant Application Resource Guide that I referenced moments ago, the OVC Training and Technical Assistance Center, the Grant Performance Measurement Reporting, and then OJP Resource Center. Here's a list of contact information that will be important to you as you prepare your application. The first is Grants.gov, which is available to provide technical assistance when submitting the SF-424 and SF-LLL.

They can be reached by phone at 1-800-518-4726 or email to support@grants.gov. Next is JustGrants, which is available to provide technical assistance on submitting the full application. They can be reached by phone at 833-872-5175 or email to JustGrants@usdoj.gov. Finally is the OJP Response Center, which is available to provide technical assistance with programmatic requirements. They can be reached by phone at 800-851-3420 or email to grants@ncjrs.gov.

As a reminder, you'll want to submit the SF-424 and SF-LLL in Grants.gov by May 26, 11:59 p.m. eastern time. You'll submit part two, the full application, in JustGrants by June 2nd, no later than 8:59 p.m. eastern time. And again, you should really consider reviewing one of the previously recorded submitting an application sessions for more information should you need additional assistance in submitting your application. If you're interested in staying connected and want to receive updates on new funding opportunities and other OVC announcements, you can subscribe to news from OVC at our website, and the link is on the screen there for you. This week is National Crime Victims' Rights Week.

The NCVRW resource guide artwork is now available online to help your organization plan its public awareness activities during NCVRW, which is commemorated from April 24th to April 30th. Using the artwork to help inspire your community and raise awareness of victims' rights, the 2022 NCVRW theme is right, access, equity for all victims. And this year's theme underscores the importance of helping survivors find their justice by enforcing victims' rights, expanding access to services, and ensuring equity and inclusion for all. You can join OVC in raising awareness of victims' rights and services, celebrating progress achieved, and honoring victims and the professionals who serve them. You can also stay connected to OVC through social media. We are on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

And that concludes my presentation. So we should have--we have about 10 minutes for questions and answers, looks like we have several questions here. The first question is "Are for-profits available under the other category? We are a corporate housing agency that has created a platform working with nonprofits and government agencies to provide hotels for victims of crime." I believe in the eligibility section--I don't believe that for-profits were included. Thank you for putting that. I don't see for-profits on here.

So you will not be eligible to apply. The second question, "Are private companies allowed to apply for this grant under other or is this limited to state, territory, government?" If your company--it sounds like a private company. So it's not a nonprofit. DARYL FOX: Ivette, is there a--you did mention it in the presentation in the other category.

Can you just explain what is included in that, maybe that'll help clear up for these two individuals? IVETTE ESTRADA: Yes, that's a good point. So the other category for purposes of this solicitation means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. So hopefully that helped. If not, you can email the--Daryl, can you put the--there it is. The contact information for, I would email the technical assistance with programmatic requirements to confirm whether you are eligible.

And someone can get back to you to confirm that, and the email address is grants@ncjrs.gov. Another question we had was "Please talk a bit more about what documents go into Grants.gov and what goes into JustGrants." We have--if we can go back to that slide, I want to say 37. And here are the web-based forms that are in JustGrants.

So this was--let me see. They were talking about what goes into Grants.gov and what goes into JustGrants. Okay. Can you go to 35? Or it might--sorry, 34.

So in Grants.gov, you'll submit the SF-424 which is the application for federal assistance form, and the SF-LLL which is the disclosure of lobbying activities form. So you'll complete both of these forms in Grants.gov.

The rest of the application is submitted in JustGrants. Another question that we have is regarding the award information. And the question is "Up to $750,000 is at total over 3 years or used in 1 year?" So the award amount of $750,000 covers the 3 years. So you'll apply up to $750,000 for a 3-year period.

Another question has to do with the 3-year duration. "FY 22 is for FY 23 to 25 with a new process in 2025 for FY 26, or is this year for 3 years, 2023?" I'm not sure what that means. But the 3-year duration--hopefully I answer your question here. The 3-year duration is based off the federal fiscal year.

So that is from October 1st to September 30th. So for example, if you're awarded, your first year will be October 1st, 2022 through September 30th, 2023. And then the second year is the same thing, and the third year is the same thing. So it's based off the federal fiscal year of October to September.

Okay. Another question is "In the solicitation, it states that OVC will support national scope and regional initiatives. Can the program have a more narrowed local focus or does it need to reach the regional area?" You can certainly have a narrowed focus where it's more local, but we are looking for projects that can be replicated at a more regional or national level. So as long as you can demonstrate that your project can potentially lead to one being replicated, then I think that would be a good direction to go in.

Another question is "Is there a definition of a culturally specific organization?" I think this presentation answered this question but to double check, the applicant doesn't need to be a direct service provider to clients to victims. Yes, we do have a definition of culturally specific organizations. And I believe I covered that in one of the slides but I will go ahead and read it again.

The culturally specific organizations are defined for purposes of this solicitation as private nonprofit or tribal organizations whose primary purpose as a whole is to provide culturally specific services to, among others, Black people, Hispanics and Latino people, Native American and other Indigenous people of North America, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and/or Pacific Islanders. So, the second answer to your question is that the applicant doesn't need to be a direct service provider, you can sub out to a culturally specific organization if your organization doesn't serve this population. Another question is "If we initiate in Grants.gov and submit federal required forms that are then unable or do not apply, is there a process to cancel the initiated application?" I'm not 100 percent sure if you can cancel or withdraw a submission.

I would reach out to Grants.gov for further guidance on that. Another question is "Is there an outline we can follow for the application to make sure we include all parts of the application? Or do we put that together ourselves?" Yes, there is an application checklist. And I believe we had it on one of our slides here, 29, if you can go to 29, please. Here's the application checklist. And you can find this checklist on the last page of the solicitation.

But it'll give you the opportunity to check off all of these elements. If some of them are applicable to you. But you can follow this checklist here to guide you through the application process to make sure that you include at least all of the required documents. Another question is "Will we get a denial if not selected?" Yes, you will.

You will receive an email from OVC if your proposal was not selected. Usually, we will notify those that have been awarded first. And then those that were not selected for funding will receive a letter. And in that letter, it will include a copy of the peer reviewer's comments, which you can then use to help strengthen your proposal should you apply again in the future. Another--I know we're just a minute over.

I'll answer this last one here. "Can a program such as TeleSANE, which is increasing access to sexual assault services, fit under this solicitation? And can public institutions of higher ed be able to apply?" Yes, public institutions of higher education are eligible to apply. The TeleSANE Project, I believe could fit under this project scope. Again, you just want to make sure that the scope of the project fits all of the elements under the solicitation, but it seems as if this potentially could.

If you want further clarification on that you can also email grants@ncjrs.gov to receive additional assistance with that programmatic question. I think we're just at about time. I know I went a few minutes over. DARYL FOX: Thanks for that Ivette. So yeah, just want to reiterate to everyone.

The PowerPoint recording and transcript for today will be posted to the OVC website, you'll receive a notice when that's posted to that site. And then as mentioned, if you do have any additional questions or things we didn't get to today you can contact the OJP Response Center listed here on the bottom slide. And then anything specific to Grants.gov or JustGrants, their information is here as well.

So on behalf of the Office for Victims of Crime and our panelist, we want to thank you for joining today's webinar. This will conclude today's presentation.

2022-05-14 22:48

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