The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Violence Prevention Services (OFVPS)

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Unaddressed trauma, including trauma caused by family violence, domestic violence, dating violence and sexual assault impacts families’ social and emotional well-being, often seriously affecting their physical, mental, and behavioral health. Research demonstrates that abuse, violence, and discrimination across the lifespan play a significant role in developing mental health and substance abuse conditions among families in this country and throughout the world. Experiencing trauma can also affect survivor's ability to access resources and services (e.g., through avoidance of trauma triggers or a reluctance to reach out when trust has not been established). Services must be sensitive to the fact that abusive partners may be exercising ongoing control over their partners’ ability to utilize resources by directly preventing access or through the threat of retaliatory violence. Understanding how these issues intersect in adults and children exposed to sexual assault, and family, dating, and domestic violence is essential to creating services and systems that address healing, emotional well-being, and safety needs. It is critical to reduce the pervasive and harmful impact of violence and trauma by building the capacity of domestic violence programs, state domestic violence coalitions, tribes, tribal organizations, community-based organizations, and statewide entities to offer trauma-informed, culturally relevant, linguistically appropriate, and accessible services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, family violence, sexual assault victims, and their children from diverse and historically marginalized communities. This funding opportunity supports the development and implementation of trauma-informed focused policies, protocols, and programs that will address the safety and support needs of adults and youth victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and family violence

 

Services Target Audience:

Grant recipients are expected to use their expertise to provide culturally specific sexual assault and domestic violence services as they relate to the ethnic, racial, cultural, and lingual diversity of survivors from underserved and historically marginalized communities. Grant recipients must define, describe, and justify their proposed target population(s). Examples of characteristics of appropriate target populations under this funding opportunity announcement are limited to adults, children, adolescents, and teens who are from diverse and historically marginalized communities and impacted by sexual assault and domestic violence.

 

Definitions: 

• Evidence-Based: Pursuant to 5 U.S.C 601 (c) (ii), “use evidence-based practices in policymaking, including identifying existing solutions, scaling up practices that are working, and designing solutions with regular input of the individuals and communities to be served.” 

• Culturally Specific Services: Pursuant to 34 U.S.C. § 12291(a)(7), “culturally specific services” means community-based services that include culturally relevant and linguistically specific services and resources to culturally specific communities. Pursuant to 34 U.S.C. § 12291(a)(6), “culturally specific” means primarily directed toward racial and ethnic minority groups (as defined in 42 U.S.C. § 300u-6(g)) (which means American Indians (including Alaska Natives, Eskimos, and Aleuts); Asian American; Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders; Blacks; and Hispanics). The term ‘‘Hispanic’’ or ‘‘Latino’’ means individuals whose origin is Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or any other Spanish speaking country. This underserved populations definition also includes other population categories determined by the Secretary [of Health and Human Services] or the Secretary’s designee to be underserved. 

• Dating Violence: Violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim and where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the length of the relationship, the type of relationship, and the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship (42 U.S.C. § 13925(a)) 

• Domestic Violence: Felony or misdemeanor crimes of violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim, by a person with whom the victim shares a child in common, by a person who is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner, by a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim under the domestic or family violence laws or jurisdiction receiving grant monies; or by any other person against an adult or youth victim who is protected from that person's acts under the domestic or family violence laws of the jurisdiction (42 U.S.C. § 13925(a)) 

• Family Violence: Any act or threatened act of violence, including any forceful detention of an individual, which: (a) results in or threatens to result in physical injury, and (b) is committed by a person against another individual (including an elderly person) to whom Page 6 of 57 such person is, or was, related by blood or marriage, or otherwise legally related, or with whom such person is, or was, lawfully residing (42 U.S.C. § 10402) 

• Sexual Assault – For the purposes of this announcement ‘sexual assault’ means any nonconsensual sexual act proscribed by federal, tribal, or state law, including when the victim lacks capacity to consent. 

• Supportive Services – For the purposes of this announcement, “supportive services” is defined as services for adult and youth victims of family violence, domestic violence, dating violence, and sexual assault and their dependents that are designed to meet the needs of such victims and their dependents for short-term, transitional, or long-term safety and recovery. Supportive services include, but are not limited to, the following: direct and/or provide referral-based advocacy on behalf of victims and their dependents, counseling, case management, employment services, referrals, transportation services, legal advocacy or assistance, child care services, health, behavioral health and preventive health services, culturally and linguistically appropriate services, and other services that assist victims and their dependents in recovering from the effects of the violence (45 CFR § 1370.2). 

• Underserved: For purposes of this announcement, “underserved population,” “underserved communities” or “people who have been historically underserved” should be read to be consistent with FVPSA statutory and regulatory definitions (at 42 U.S.C. § 10402 (14) and 45 CFR § 1370.2). For reference, the definition at 45 CFR § 1370.2 is given here: “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 including language barriers, disabilities, immigration status, and age. Individuals with criminal histories due to victimization and individuals with substance use disorders and mental health issues are also included in this definition. The reference to racial and ethnic populations is primarily directed toward racial and ethnic minority groups (as defined in section 1707(g) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300(u–6) (g)), which means American Indians (including Alaska Natives, Eskimos, and Aleuts); Asian American; Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders; Blacks and Hispanics. The term ‘‘Hispanic’’ or ‘‘Latino’’ means individuals whose origin is Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or any other Spanish speaking country. This underserved populations’ definition also includes other population categories determined by the Secretary [of Health and Human Services] or the Secretary’s designee to be underserved."