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The Office for Victims of Crime, through its Program Development and Dissemination Division (PDDD), develops and monitors national-scope training and technical assistance, demonstration projects, and initiatives that respond to emerging issues in the victim assistance field.
To serve OVC's constituency-crime victims and their advocates, criminal justice personnel, allied professionals, and the general public-PDDD undertakes the following functions:
- Supports dialog among practitioners and policymakers, and uses this information to identify emerging issues regarding services to victims and the training and technical assistance needs of victim service providers and allied professionals.
- Develops grant solicitations that address emerging issues and can move the field forward. These solicitations and other grant-related information are included in OVC's Discretionary Toolbox.
- Reviews grant applications to select and fund high-quality proposals.
- Promotes strategies that enhance the quality of victim services and opportunities for institutional changes on behalf of crime victims by working collaboratively with, or awarding discretionary grants to, a variety of professional organizations.
- Monitors projects and assists grantees in the development of publications or technical assistance tools or resources which are effective and responsive to the identified needs of victim service providers and allied professionals.
- Publishes grantee-authored products and makes them available on OVC's Web site. These products include promising practices and technical assistance resources, such as Partnering with Faith Communities To Provide Elder Fraud Prevention, Intervention, and Victim Services and Rural Victim Assistance: A Victim/Witness Guide for Rural Prosecutors.
- Designs national-scope, demonstration grant initiatives, such as the trafficking grant program, faith-related programs like the Communities Against Senior Exploitation (CASE) Partnership described in OVC's CASE bulletin, and projects like the State/Federal Clinic and System Demonstration Project that advance the rights of crime victims. Supports evaluation of these initiatives so that promising practices can be fully understood and replicated.
- Assists communities in promoting victims' rights and services by developing initiatives, such as the Public Awareness in Underserved Communities program, that involve public awareness and education campaigns. Supports the development of resource materials for National Crime Victims' Rights Week (NCVRW), which can be used throughout the year to support victims' rights awareness campaigns, and coordinates national activities in commemoration of NCVRW, including the candlelight observance and awards ceremony.
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