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| 16.320 SERVICES FOR TRAFFICKING VICTIMS |
| FEDERAL AGENCY |
| OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS, OFFICE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE |
| AUTHORIZATION |
| 22 USC 7105(b)(2)(A). |
| OBJECTIVES |
| To provide assistance to victims of severe forms of trafficking (i.e., sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery) without regard to the immigration status of the victim. A set aside of the total appropriation for the following purposes is as follows: three percent for research, evaluation, and statistics; two percent for training and technical assistance; and one percent for management and administration of grant funds. |
| TYPES OF ASSISTANCE |
| Project Grants; Direct Payments for Specified Use. |
| USES AND USE RESTRICTIONS |
| Funding under this program is intended primarily, but not exclusively, to meet victims' pre-certification needs. Pre-certification refers to the period of time between when trafficking victims are initially identified by law enforcement and officially certified by the Federal government as such. In FY 04, 10 cooperative agreements to provide comprehensive victim services were awarded under this program. During FY 05, OVC made one award of $281,595 to support training and technical assistance to victim service organizations to enhance their services to trafficking victims. OVC also made one award of $499,155 to a grantee for the provision of comprehensive services. Beginning in 2004, OVC joined with its sister agency, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to support an expanded strategy of funding anti-trafficking task forces in cities throughout the country known to have a high concentration of trafficking victims. This task force strategy focuses on enhancing law enforcement's ability to identify and rescue victims of human trafficking; providing law enforcement with the resources and training to identify and rescue victims of trafficking; and to ensuring that comprehensive services are available wherever trafficking victims are found. OVC and BJA released a joint competitive solicitation in FY 06 that resulted in the creation of 10 new law enforcement task forces and funding for victim service provision in areas where new task forces were formed. In FY 07, BJA awarded supplemental funding to six task forces. BJA has provided funding to 42 local and state law enforcement anti-trafficking task forces across the country. This year, OVC awarded supplemental funding to 13 Services for Trafficking Victims grantees to continue providing services to pre-certified trafficking victims. To date, OVC has funded 31 victim service agencies to provide a wide range of services to trafficking victims in the United States. Comprehensive Services awards support the creation and/or enhancement of collaborative networks that will provide critical services for trafficking victims within a given community or region. These awards are intended to build community-based networks of comprehensive, integrated, and culturally appropriate services for trafficking victims. Applicants must demonstrate to capacity to quickly mobilize resources to accommodate the needs of potentially large numbers of victims and the ability to coordinate with other trafficking programs and other service providers. OVC anticipates releasing a competitive solicitation to fund new cooperative agreements to provide comprehensive victim services contingent on the availability and amount of FY 2008 funding. In order to receive Department of Justice funding support and the assistance of the local U.S. Attorney, local law enforcement agencies and victim services providers are required to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with all task force members committing themselves to collaborating together on investigations and assistance to victims. |
| Applicant Eligibility |
| The Attorney General may make grants to States, Indian tribes, units of local government, and nonprofit, non- governmental victims service organizations. |
| Beneficiary Eligibility |
| Eligible victim assistance agencies. Eligibility depends on the nature of the grant but may include a wide variety of public and private nonprofit agencies. |
| Credentials/Documentation |
| Applications for this program must be submitted electronically via Grants.gov; at a time specified by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs and must contain the following certification and assurances: (1) assure that the applicant will provide such accounting, auditing, monitoring and evaluation procedures as may be necessary, and keep such records as the Office of Justice Programs may prescribe, to assure fiscal control, proper management and efficient disbursement of Federal funds; (2) assure that the applicant will adhere to the audit and financial management requirements set forth in the effective edition of the OJP Financial Guide; (3) assure that the applicant will comply with all applicable nondiscrimination requirements including civil rights compliance, non-discrimination against eligible applicants that are faith or community-based organizations, services to persons with Limited English Proficiency, and protection of human research subjects; (4) certify that the applicant will comply with certifications regarding Lobbying, Debarment, Suspension, and Drug-Free Workplace Requirements (OJP Form 4061/6); and other responsibility matters; and, (5) certify that the information in the application is correct and that the applicant will comply with all applicable provisions of the Victims of Crime Act and other Federal laws, (including subtitle A, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 1990) regulations, and circulars. Costs will be determined in accordance with OMB Circular No. A-87 or OMB Circular No. A-133. |
| Preapplication Coordination |
| The standard application form furnished by the Federal agency in accordance with 28 CFR, Part 66 (Common Rule) must be used for all grants made by the Office for Victims of Crime. This program is excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372. |
| Application Procedure |
| In accordance with the Common Rule, Standard Form 424 must be submitted by nonfederal agencies in applying for funding under this program electronically via grants.gov. Forms for funds other than grants or for use by Federal Agencies will be supplied by OVC. |
| Award Procedure |
| Generally awards will be made on a competitive basis with applications reviewed by a panel of subject matter experts who will assess application submissions based on established criteria and forward a recommendation to the Director of the Office for Victims of Crime. The Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs has final approval authority. |
| Deadlines |
| Deadlines will be announced by OVC in its Trafficking Victims Protection Act Discretionary Grant solicitation and application guidelines, available on the OVC homepage at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/. |
| Range of Approval/Disapproval Time |
| Approximately 3-5 months. |
| Appeals |
| Hearing by the Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs. |
| Renewals |
| Supplements are considered on an individualized basis, based on grantee performance and the need for service provisions to trafficking victims within the geographic area of coverage, as well as the existence of anti-trafficking task forces funded through the Bureau of Justice Assistance. |
| Formula and Matching Requirements |
| Eligible applicants must match the Trafficking Victims Protection Act grant program funds with a 25 percent cash contribution or the value equivalent of an in-kind contribution(s). In-kind match refers to the value of something received or provided that does not have a cost associated with it. |
| Length and Time Phasing of Assistance |
| Fiscal Year 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 trafficking funds may be carried for obligation by the grantee for the duration of their grant award. Funds are released via electronic funds transfer. Grantees must become enrolled in the Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) Vendor Express Program to request any Federal funds. |
| Reports |
| Quarterly financial reports and semi-annual progress reports will be required as stipulated in the effective edition of the OJP Financial Guide. A final financial and program report also will be required. |
| Audits |
| All organizations that expend financial assistance of $500,000 or more in any fiscal year must have a single audit for that year in accordance with OMB Circular No. A-133, as amended, unless the audit condition on the award says otherwise. These audits are due to the cognizant Federal agency not later than 9 months after the end of the grantee's fiscal year. |
| Records |
| Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other records pertinent to a grant shall be retained for a period of 3 years. |
| Account Identification |
| 15-0404-0-1-754. |
| Obligations |
| FY 07 $9,872,280; FY 08 $9,400,000; and FY 09 est. not available. |
| Range and Average of Financial Assistance |
| In FY 08, OVC may award grants ranging from $200,000 to $500,000 for 1-3 years to support services to trafficking victims. Additional awards to support research and evaluation and training and technical assistance may be made. |
| PROGRAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS |
| Since the inception of the program over 1,900 pre-certified trafficking victims have been served by grantee recipients. Grantees have also provided substantive training on trafficking to over 89,000 individuals, including law enforcement officers. OVC now funds a total of 31 direct service projects, as well as one project that provides mobile services. Comprehensive services grants provide direct services to meet the broad range of needs of trafficking victims, including case management; legal services; medical, dental, and mental health services; advocacy, emergency and longer-term housing; education and job skills training; and interpreter services. The specialized services grants provide a quickly mobilized single service over a broad geographical area, such as mental health assessment and crisis intervention. OVC continues to coordinate closely with the Office for Refugee Resettlement at the Department of Health and Human Services through periodic coordination meetings to ensure that their respective programs for trafficking victims, outreach efforts, and training and technical assistance priorities for trafficking grantees are not duplicative and proactively address issues that arise from the field on service provision to trafficking victims. Funding from this program was previously transferred to the National Institute of Justice to support a ground-breaking evaluation of three of the OVC funded comprehensive service sites. Final results were completed this year. Through its Training and Technical Assistance Center, OVC has developed substantive resources for its grantees to collect data and track performance of their projects. |
| REGULATIONS, GUIDELINES, AND LITERATURE |
| OVC discretionary grant solicitations and application guidelines and the current edition of the OJP Financial Guide are available on-line at the OVC webpage: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/. |
| Regional or Local Office |
| None. |
| Headquarters Office |
| Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, Department of Justice, 810 Seventh Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20531. Telephone: (202) 307-5983, or Joye Frost, Director, Program Development and Dissemination Division, Office for Victims of Crime; Telephone: (202) 305-1715. |
| Web Site Address |
| http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ |
| RELATED PROGRAMS |
| 93.598, Services to Victims of a Severe Form of Trafficking; 93.566, Refugee and Entrant Assistance_State Administered Programs. |
| EXAMPLES OF FUNDED PROJECTS |
| (a) Comprehensive Services projects provide a holistic approach to assisting trafficking victims by either directly providing services or coordinating access to services that provide shelter and sustenance, general health and mental health care, legal services, jobs skills training, cultural support from the community, and educational services. Applicants must establish an advisory committee to guide the project; conduct an assessment of existing community services, resources, and needs; identify key partners including law enforcement and governmental and non-governmental entities; and develop a plan to sustain the project after Federal funding ends. (b) Supplemental and Specialized Services projects must demonstrate capacity to provide discrete services such as legal, housing, or mental health services to trafficking victims with very little notice and lead time within a given geographical area; for fluctuating numbers of victims; for victims with extremely limited resources; for victims from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds; and for victims who have experienced distinct or multiple forms of victimization, including psychical and sexual assault, forced labor, denial of medical care, etc. Programs must collaborate as appropriate with recipients of funding for Comprehensive services, and ensure trafficking victims have access to: emergency and long-term medical and mental health care, legal services including immigration advocacy, interpreter and translation services, social service and criminal justice system-based advocacy, outreach services directed toward immigrant populations, special services for victims who are juveniles, and job skills training. |
| CRITERIA FOR SELECTING PROPOSALS |
| General criteria for selecting proposals have been developed by the Office for Victims of Crime and are included in the OVC Services for Trafficking Victims Discretionary Grant program Solicitations and Application Guidelines. |
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General Services Administration Office of Chief Acquisition Officer Regulatory and Federal Assistance Division (VIR) |
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