GLOBAL CHALLENGE III: To integrate crime victims’ issues into all levels of the Nation’s educational system.

NEW PROGRAMS

Project Name: Faith Community Professional Education Initiative

Name of Grantee/Recipient: Victim Services 2000 and the Denver Seminary

Problem Statement: Millions of Americans call on their clergy for spiritual guidance, support, and information in times of personal crisis. One study found that people in crisis due to the death of someone close were almost five times more likely to seek the aid of clergy than all other mental health sources combined. While the faith community has historically provided prison ministry programs, few religious institutions have developed services or programs specifically to serve victims of crime. And while most clergy are educated in traditional grief counseling techniques, they also need training regarding the needs of victims; how and when to make referrals to criminal justice, medical, mental health, and social service resources in the community; and how they can become part of the immediate and ongoing community response to victims of crime, including victims of mass violence and terrorism.

Funding:
FY 2002/2003: $350,000
FY 2004/2005: $350,000
FY 2005: Transition into TTAC

Objective: To provide training to practitioners in the faith community that will enhance their ability to understand and serve crime victims.

Victim Focus: All crime victims

Practitioner Focus: The faith community

Project Description: One of the outcomes of the OVC-funded demonstration project Victim Services 2000–Denver was an innovative partnership between VS 2000 and the Denver Seminary that developed and piloted a core curriculum for the clergy on victimization. In FY 2003–4, OVC will provide funding to VS 2000 in partnership with the Denver Seminary to build on its foundation effort of integrating victimization content into the professional education of the clergy. In the first two years of this project, the grantees will survey a wide array of schools of theology regarding the scope and nature of curricula content on victimization issues and determine their interest in serving as a pilot site for the developed curriculum. The grantee will analyze survey results and select 4–6 sites encompassing a broad ecumenical range of faiths to pilot their curriculum. The grantee will revise the curriculum based on pilot-testing results and develop a strategy to disseminate broadly and integrate the curriculum into professional schools of education for the clergy across the Nation. Part of this strategy will include identifying clergy who can provide the elements of the training through OVC TTAC. The grantee will also develop a chapter for the National Victim Assistance Academy (NVAA) on the role of the faith community in responding to crime victims and highlight promising practices. The grantee will work with NVAA to develop a video (funded separately by OVC) on promising practices to accompany the NVAA chapter. Finally, the grantee would lay the groundwork for reaching out to other faiths to integrate victimization content into their professional schools of education. Potential funding in FY2004–5 would support a partnership of the grantee with the other faith communities to integrate victimization content into the professional education of their clergy. Funding would support development of appropriate victimization curricula, pilot testing, and a dissemination plan for the resulting training, including identification of appropriate trainers for OVC TTAC. At the end of the project, the grantee will contact schools initially surveyed to ascertain if victimization curricula have been added, modified, and/or expanded. The grantee will provide a summary report to OVC that will be disseminated to the field as an OVC Bulletin.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): To provide a foundation-level training curriculum on crime victims and victimization issues that can be used at professional schools that educate religious practitioners.

Performance Measure(s): Number of schools initially which have integrated victimization content into their curriculum.

Evaluation: Internal, by grantee.

Project Name: Vertical Victim Assistance in Indian Country

Name of Grantee/Recipient: Noncompetitive (TBD)

Problem Statement: There is a documented high crime problem in Indian Country. OVC has funded several efforts to maintain victim service personnel in remote areas of Indian Country to provide services to American Indian crime victims who otherwise do not have access to services. Right now, there are VAIC program reservation-based advocates, FBI victim specialists, U.S. Attorney’s Office victim/witness personnel, and others who advocate for American Indian crime victims. Many times victims are contacted by several different service providers as they make their way through the criminal justice process. This is unsatisfactory for victims because they establish rapport and trust with one service provider and then have to start all over with another service provider. It is very confusing and disruptive for victims and may be an inefficient use of resources.

Funding:
FY 2002: $200,000
FY 2003: TBD
FY 2004: TBD
FY 2005: TBD

Objective: To develop a model of coordinating victim services in Indian Country so that victims have to deal with only one point of contact.

Victim Focus: All crime victims on reservations where there is federal criminal jurisdiction.

Practitioner Focus: Victim service providers, federal agency victim assistance personnel, law enforcement, and prosecutors in Indian Country

Project Description: This is a developmental demonstration project dependent on collaboration across a range of agencies having a stake in this issue. Selecting the grantee will involve a collaborative effort. OVC funding will provide a demonstration project to improve the efficiency of the delivery of victim services in Indian Country by coordinating communication between all victim service personnel and the victim. In FY 2002, a working group of all affected agencies would be established, an entity to develop a protocol would be identified, Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) among different agencies would be developed, and a demonstration site would be identified. In FY 2003, the working group will collect basic data measuring victim needs, victim statistics, and the benefits of coordination to the tribes. The model protocol will be activated in the chosen federal judicial district. In FY 2004, OVC will continue implementation of the model. In FY 2005, OVC will complete an evaluation comparing FY 2003 victim service delivery data with FY 2004 data.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): Model protocol and MOUs that make the delivery of victim services more efficient in Indian Country.

Performance Measure(s): Number of victims served and the percentage of victims reporting responsiveness to their needs.

Evaluation: Internal, by recipient.

Project Name: American Indian Victim Assistance Academy

Name of Grantee/Recipient: OVC TTAC

Problem Statement: Recent studies have documented a serious crime problem in Indian Country. American Indian victims have been considered an underserved population because of lack of services for them. There are many challenges in providing assistance to victims in Indian Country including poverty, unemployment, isolation, and complex criminal jurisdictional problems. Presently, there is no basic training on academic and skills topics for new victim service providers in Indian Country. Those practitioners need baseline information and skills training to become effective resources for American Indian crime victims.

Funding:
FY 2002: $140,000
FY 2003: $140,000
FY 2004: $100,000
FY 2005: $100,000

Objective: To establish a basic victim assistance skills academy for victim service providers and others who work with victims in Indian Country.

Victim Focus: American Indian victims of crime

Practitioner Focus: Reservation-based victim service providers, federal agency victim assistance personnel, tribal and federal law enforcement officers, federal prosecutors, and tribal prosecutors and court personnel.

Project Description: OVC funding will support the development of a skills-based academy for victim service providers and allied professionals in Indian Country. Based on the identified American Indian victim needs and working with American Indian victim services experts and NVAA staff, in the first and second years, TTAC consultants will: (1) draft an academy text; (2) identify possible Indian Country experts; (3) hold meetings with American Indian victims to gather information about needs; and (4) seek advice from five to seven Indian service centers, university programs, VOCA/VAIC working groups, etc. In the third year of the project, TTAC will pilot test the academy and, in the fourth year TTAC consultants will refine the text and offer the second training. Preference will be given to establish the Academy at an American Indian college or other American Indian institution.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): FY 2002: Training needs assessment and survey of crime victims in Indian Country. FY 2003: Draft the Academy curriculum. FY 2004: Pilot test the Academy. FY 2005: Refine curriculum and offer second Academy.

Performance Measure(s): Number of training requests received by the Academy and number of persons who complete the Academy.

Evaluation: Internal, by recipient.

Project Name: Process Evaluation of Victim Assistance in Indian Country (VAIC) Discretionary Grant Program

Name of Grantee/Recipient: Competitive through the National Institute of Justice

Problem Statement: Since 1988, OVC has funded reservation-based direct victim services, including crisis intervention, emergency shelter, mental health counseling, and hiring of victim advocates. A process evaluation will be beneficial to identify strengths and weaknesses of the current VAIC program strategy and to assistin planning the funding of future programs in Indian Country.

Funding:
FY 2002: $500,000

Objective: To assess the strengths and weaknesses of the VAIC grant program strategy and identify promising strategies for improving services to American Indian crime victims.

Victim Focus: American Indian crime victims

Practitioner Focus: Victim assistance programs on reservations

Project Description: OVC will provide funds to the National Institute of Justice to develop a solicitation for a process evaluation of the VAIC grant program over a 3-year period.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): A final report of the process evaluation results; two to three presentations of results at DOJ/OVC conferences; and a presentation to VAIC program staff.

Performance Measure(s): Satisfactory completion of the above deliverables.

Evaluation: Not applicable.

Project Name: National Victim Assistance Academy Evaluation

Name of Grantee/Recipient: Competitive through the National Institute of Justice (NIJ)

Problem Statement: In early 1995, OVC funded the National Victim Assistance Academy (NVAA) with the goal of providing high quality, intensive education and training to victim service providers, advocates, and processionals from federal, state, tribal, and local settings. The Academy was also to provide for career development/in service training opportunities for OVC staff. The major objectives were: 1) development of a comprehensive, research-based course of academic instruction that provided victim advocates with current, cutting-edge knowledge about victim assistance and the field of victimology; and 2) adaptation and integration of victimology instruction in institutions of higher learning and facilitation of its application in other venues. These objectives were to be achieved through design and implementation of an interdisciplinary training curriculum, development of a bibliography of training curricula, production of videos and viewers’ guides, and development of a participant training manual. Over the past 6 years, approximately 1,700 victim service professionals, including federal victim-witness coordinators from all 50 states, 4 U.S. territories and 6 foreign countries, have completed the NVAA. While participant evaluations were completed at the end of each Academy and provide an impressive record of participant satisfaction and benefits, there is no analytic summary of these evaluations, nor has any assessment been conducted on actual gains in skills and knowledge of participants, changes in student attitudes and pursuit of formal education and further career enhancement, or impact on policies, practices, or program services in their agencies. A formal evaluation of NVAA will help inform policy with respect to needs for training and career development which the “Academy” model might support in the future and will determine the most valuable aspects and appropriateness for replication at the state level.

Funding:
FY 2002: $350,000

Objective: To provide OVC with information on the value and impact of NVAA for possible further development of educational opportunities funded by OVC to reach specific victim assistance professionals; to determine the most valuable aspects and appropriateness of the Academy model for replication at the state level; to assess the extent to which the Academy supports the goals of professionals in the field; to document the approach taken in establishing the partnership among the government, nonprofit sector, and academia; and to evaluate the impact on participants.

Victim Focus: All crime victims

Practitioner Focus: Federal, tribal, state, and local agencies serving crime victims; private nonprofit victim services agencies; academies and advocacy organizations that support and promote victim rights and services; volunteer agencies that support crime victims; formula and discretionary recipients of OVC funds; and academicians and state agencies interested in hosting an academy

Project Description: An independent evaluation will be conducted in coordination with NIJ. The contractor will provide for data collection, data assessment, and a final report in two parts—a retrospective of two years of operation and an impact report of the Academy class of 2002.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): An evaluation report that includes a retrospective assessment of two prior years of NVAA’s operation documenting approaches taken in the NVAA sites to establish partnerships among the government and academic and nonprofit sectors, and provides descriptive assessment of NVAA curricula, faculty, texts, and other elements of the NVAA instruction program; and, which documents impact on participants, including but not limited to, improvements in NVAA graduates’ knowledge, ability, job performance, promotion potential, understanding of victim needs, and delivery of services to victims.

Performance Measure(s): Completion of the evaluation and production of a final report.

Evaluation: Not applicable.

Project Name: State Victim Assistance Academies Project

Name of Grantee/Recipient: Competitive for four new states

Problem Statement: New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century reports that, since VOCA was enacted, OVC’s funding of national, regional, and state conferences in the area of victims’ rights and services has resulted in the training of thousands of victim service providers, volunteers, and allied professionals. While significant progress has occurred over the past two decades with respect to enhancing and extending professionalization in the victims’ field and enactment of state and federal statutes regarding crime victims’ rights, much remains to be done. In addition to supporting national training events, OVC has played a major role in the development and professionalization of this field by channeling significant funding to local communities and states for direct services to victims, delivery of substantive training and technical assistance to victim service practitioners, volunteers, and policymakers, development and replication of victim-related promising practices nationwide, and broad-based dissemination of timely, substantive and relevant information to the field. With development of the first National Victim Assistance Academy (NVAA) in 1995, OVC made a major investment in institutionalizing comprehensive, academic-based training for a diverse group of victim service providers, including federal, tribal, state, and local justice and allied professionals. Adaptation of the essential elements of NVAA at the state level for purposes of advancing the objectives of the Academy and building on training efforts initiated in such states as Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and New Mexico to raise the professionalism and knowledge of victim advocates was a logical next step in moving the infrastructure of the victims’ field forward.

Funding:
FY 2002: $440,000
FY 2003: $140,000
FY 2004: $400,000

Objective: To adapt the essential NVAA elements in states to make the week-long intensive foundation course of study in victimology and victims’ rights and services available on a broader scale.

Victim Focus: All crime victims

Practitioner Focus: Tribal, state, and local agencies serving crime victims, private not-for-profit victim service agencies, systems-based and community-based victim service agencies, advocacy organizations that support and promote victims’ rights and services, and volunteer agencies that support crime victims residing within the state implementing the Academy Initiative.

Project Description: The SVAA initiative began in 1999 with the award of competitive discretionary grants to states to support their efforts to provide comprehensive, academic-based, fundamental education for victim assistance providers, victim advocates, and allied professionals who routinely interact with crime victims, based on the NVAA course model and text. Five state agencies and/or organizations—Pennsylvania Commission on Crime & Delinquency, Connecticut Judicial Branch, Texas Attorney General’s Office, Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance (COVA), and Utah Office of Crime Victim Reparations—were the recipients of funding and will receive third and final-year funding under this solicitation. Central to the project has been the encouragement of similar initiatives in other states with the ultimate goal of establishing a nationwide network of state academies capable of meeting the foundation-level educational needs of a broad range of victim assistance providers and allied professionals. The design of the state academies requires development and use of a planning committee and establishment of a partnership with academic institutions in the first year; the second year requires support of curriculum design, course presentation, and evaluation of the state academy; and the third year focuses on curriculum modification based on evaluation and presentation of an academy providing assistance with strategic planning and program development for other states interested in planning and developing academies. OVC will provide third- and final-year funding to the existing state academies and provide first-year funding for four new state academies.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): One academy for up to 50 victim advocates and allied professionals in the 5 states completing the 3-year program; a plan for supporting the initiation of 4 additional academies in FY 02; implementation of a plan for initiation of four new academies and one academy in each of the four new states in FY 03 and FY 04; delivery of technical assistance by the 5 original state academies to the new academies; and a plan for initiation of an additional 4 academies in FY 04.

Performance Measure(s): Number of state academies that continue to operate after OVC funding terminates and number of victim advocates and allied professionals trained.

Evaluation: Internal, by grantee.

CONTINUATION PROGRAMS

Project Name: Intervention for the Protection of Elderly Victims

Name of Grantee/Recipient: Baylor College of Medicine

Problem Statement: The mortality rate for millions of elderly victims is triple that of other older persons. Since the elderly visit their doctors much more frequently than the general population, physicians are in a position to intervene and help protect elderly victims. However, while there are a number of well-recognized risk factors for elder abuse, very little is taught about elder abuse in medical schools.

Funding:
FY 2002: $150,000
FY 2003: $100,000
FY 2004: Transition into TTAC

Objective: To train physicians on the risk factors and indicators of elder abuse, appropriate intervention strategies, reporting and documenting the abuse, and working with law enforcement.

Victim Focus: Victims of elder abuse

Practitioner Focus: Physicians

Outcome/Deliverable(s): Training curriculum, case study workbook for academic physicians, and an OVC Bulletin

Project Description: To address training on elder abuse in medical schools, OVC provided funding for the first year of this project to the Baylor College of Medicine to develop a curriculum for academic physicians, who in turn will train thousands of future physicians. The grantee piloted the training at two medical schools in Texas during the first year, targeting faculty in geriatrics, family practice, emergency medicine, surgery, and general internal medicine. The grantee has revised the curriculum based on the results of the pilot testing and is developing a bulletin about its Texas Elder Abuse and Mistreatment Institute, which is the first collaboration in the country between a state adult protective services (APS) agency and a geriatric team. In FY 2002, the grantee will train physicians on elder abuse at six remaining Texas medical schools. The grantee will further revise training materials and publish a curriculum for use at medical schools nationwide and provide an overview of their program and training in an OVC Bulletin. Since research indicates that medical doctors make very few reports of elder abuse to adult protective services, the grantee will track reported cases in the State of Texas Adult Protective Services regions where medical schools are located to determine whether there is any change in reporting by physicians. With funding in its third year, the grantee will develop an interactive Web site for ongoing education, technical assistance, and interdisciplinary case consultations to participating medical school sites.

Performance Measure(s): Number of physicians trained, number of attendees reporting use of curriculum in their clinical practice, and number of reports of elder abuse to adult protective services by physicians in regions where training is conducted.

Evaluation: Internal, by grantee.

Project Name: National Victim Assistance Academy

Name of Grantee/Recipient: Victims’ Assistance Legal Organization (VALOR)

Problem Statement: As noted in New Directions from the Field: Victims’ Rights and Services for the 21st Century, victims of crime were virtually invisible in the laws and policies that governed our justice systems prior to the 1982 President’s Task Force on Victims of Crime: Final Report. While significant progress has occurred over the past two decades with respect to enactment of state and federal statutes regarding crime victims’ rights, much remains to be done in providing educational and developmental opportunities for victim service providers, volunteers, and policymakers who impact victims’ issues. In the years since VOCA was enacted, OVC has played a major role in the development and professionalization of this field by channeling significant funding to local communities and states for direct services to victims, delivery of substantive training and technical assistance to victim service practitioners, volunteers, and policymakers, development and replication of victim-related promising practices nationwide, as well as through broad-based dissemination of timely, substantive and relevant information to the field.

Funding:
FY 2002: $422,000
FY 2003: TBD

Objective: To provide a week-long intensive foundation course of study in victimology, victims’ rights and services, and to provide technical assistance to states developing victim assistance academies.

Victim Focus: All crime victims

Practitioner Focus: Federal, tribal, state, and local agencies serving crime victims, private not-for-profit victim service agencies, systems-based and community-based victim service agencies, advocacy organizations that support and promote victims’ rights and services, volunteer agencies that support crime victims, and formula and discretionary recipients of OVC funds.

Project Description: This project will continue the National Victim Assistance Academy, initiated in 1995, for purposes of providing training to 300 victim advocates and allied professionals and conducting an impact evaluation with a retrospective assessment of two of its prior years of operation. The major goal of the Academy has been to provide high quality, intensive education and training to victim service providers, advocates, and professionals from federal, state, tribal, and local agencies/organizations. The two major objectives have been development of a comprehensive, research-based course of academic instruction that provides victim advocates with current, cutting-edge foundation-level knowledge about victim assistance and the field of victimology; and adaptation and integration of victimology instruction in institutions of higher learning and facilitation of its application in other venues. These objectives have been achieved through design and implementation of an interdisciplinary training curriculum, development of a bibliography of training curricula, educational videos, and development of a participant training manual. In addition, the Academy has also developed two specialized topic courses for victim service providers. The specialized topic series continues the same academic-based, practitioner-oriented training and education that has been the cornerstone of the foundation-level Academy since 1995, but whose focus is more concentrated on a single topic area over the span of 2–3 days—they are “Leadership in Victim Services” and “Ultimate Educator: Maximizing Adult Learning Through Training and Instruction.” Distance learning technologies like teleconferencing were also used to facilitate transfer of knowledge and to maximize resources for the Academy. Approximately 1,700 victim service professionals, including federal victim-witness coordinators from all 50 states, the U.S. territories, and 6 foreign countries have completed the NVAA course since 1995. The results of the evaluation will inform future planning for continuation of the Academy and integration at the state and local levels of the most valuable aspects in state academy efforts.

Outcome/Deliverable(s): One Academy for 300 professionals, victim advocates, volunteers, and policymakers; one Web-based course on “Ethics and Victim Services”; two topic-specific courses offered twice each (“Ultimate Educator: Maximizing Adult Learning Through Training and Instruction” and “Leadership in Victim Services”); one satellite conference in conjunction with the Academy, development of a new NVAA text section concerning victims of terrorism, and continuation of the NVAA Web site and the toll-free number.

Performance Measure(s): Number of requests for training and number of practitioners completing the Academy.

Evaluation: External, independent.