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The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) is authorized to support a fellowship
and clinical internship
program under the Victim Compensation and Assistance Act, as amended [42 U.S.C.
10603 (c)(3)].
The goal of the program is to provide the victim service field with expertise
to facilitate the development
or enhancement of innovative programs to better serve victims. Fellowships will
enrich participants'
experience in victim services and will assist federal agencies as well as grassroots,
victim service, and
criminal justice organizations implement new approaches and strategies. The following
is a description
of ongoing fellowship projects and initiatives:
Implementation of OVC's International Terrorism Victim Compensation
Program
Our first visiting fellow came to OVC in November 2002 and was
assigned to the Terrorism and International Victims Unit (TIVU) to assist
with the development and implementation of the International Terrorism
Victim Compensation Program (ITVCP). This fellow was chosen for several
reasons. First, he has an administrative background in criminal justice
at the local and state levels of government that is compatible with implementing
public policy. Second, his educational and academic research interests
focus on the broader issues of crime policy and the implementation and
evaluation of such policies. And third, he expressed an interest in the
national and international issues of societal mass violence and terrorism.
OVC was authorized by Congress to implement the ITVCP pursuant to the
Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-386).
The Act further authorized OVC's Director to use the Antiterrorism Emergency
Reserve to carry out a program to compensate victims of acts of international
terrorism that occur outside the United States for unreimbursed qualified
expenses associated with that victimization. Based on an expense reimbursement
structure that reflects model state victim compensation programs, ITVCP
takes into account the unique nature and impact of international terrorism
and the additional expenses that victims, survivors, and family members
often incur, such as long-distance travel for burial or medical care.
The ITVCP will benefit U.S. nationals and U.S. government employees by
allowing eligible claimants to file compensation claims directly with
OVC rather than with their home states. This will ensure that victims
receive fair and equitable compensation for similar expenses incurred.
The proposed ITVCP regulations are under development and being vetted
within the Justice Department. The next steps are to clear the regulations
through the Office of Legal Policy, the Associate Attorney General's
Office, and the Office of Management and Budget; and finally to publish
the proposed regulations in the Federal Register for public comment.
While the regulations are being finalized, our visiting fellow is working
with TIVU to collect names of eligible victims; to develop internal operating
procedures for implementing the program; to identify compatible software
with the necessary core competencies to make a recommendation to administrators;
to create an ITVCP Web site; to establish the proper method of compensation
payments to international victims; to develop the program application
and literature; and to identify potential vendors who may be asked to
conduct an external review of medical and mental health expenses submitted
by victims. OVC recently procured a vendor to process claims and maintain
program statistics to generate status reports.
In addition to working on the ITVCP, OVC's fellow has also had the opportunity
to attend the 2003 National Victim Assistance Academy at Washburn University
in Topeka, Kansas; the local National Institute of Justice Research and
Evaluation conference; the National Organization for Victim Assistance
conference in New Orleans, Louisiana; and various Senate Judiciary Committee
hearings on compensating victims of acts of international terrorism.
Identifying and Disseminating Capacity-Building Resources for Nonprofit
Organizations
Another fellow began in March 2003. She brings to OVC her
experience as a Program Director of a comprehensive victim service
program, a social worker providing services to families in crisis for
more than
12 years, and a covictim of homicide after the murder of her husband.
OVC selected her because of her work overseeing a program in a nonprofit
organization, where her responsibilities included providing direct services
such as court accompaniment, completing crime victim compensation claims,
crisis intervention, telephone counseling, needs assessments and referrals,
individual therapy, and support groups. She recruited, trained, supervised,
evaluated, and supported 4 victim advocates and about 50 volunteers,
and has conducted many in-services and trainings related to victim services,
trauma, bereavement, and criminal victimization.
She feels that her commitment to the victim service field is strengthened
by the opportunity to participate in OVC's Fellowship Program, which
enables her to observe and learn from a macroperspective about the needs
and issues facing the field. The primary focus of her fellowship is to
understand and assess the needs of victim service organizations as they
seek to sustain and institutionalize services within their communities.
OVC is invested in a needs assessment process which will guide the delivery
of training and technical assistance to the field. She is supporting
OVC's initiative by gathering data about capacity-building resources
available to nonprofit victim service programs and the needs and problems
experienced by executive directors and program managers nationwide.
To date, the field's needs have been expressed through a Victim Services
Provider Forum, a questionnaire completed in conjunction with the 29th
Annual North American Victim Assistance Conference sponsored by the National
Organization for Victim Assistance; site visits and interviews with OVC
grantees; interviews with nonprofit consultants; and a comprehensive
survey of resources available to the field.
By the end of her fellowship, she hopes to help OVC address the field's
needs by increasing the number of capacity building and sustainablity
resources on OVC's Web site; the number of Training and Technical Assistance
Center consultants available to assist the field in strategic planning,
collaboration, grantseeking, and marketing; and the number of listserv
announcements or publications about funding opportunities and new resources.
In addition, she will help plan a workshop on program sustainability
and grantseeking resources for the 2004 OVC Discretionary Grantees Meeting.
As a result of numerous reports and concerns from the field about the
challenges of collaborating with other agencies and the limitations of
resources for marketing and outreach to victims, OVC has developed a
funding opportunity to support public awareness, outreach, and education
initiatives during the 2004 National Crime Victims' Rights Week. Under
this new opportunity, 60 communities will receive up to $5,000 to highlight
victims' rights and services. OVC's fellow has helped promote this new
funding and will organize OVC's selection process.
For more information about OVC's Visiting Fellowship Program, please
contact the Office for Victims of Crime at 202-307-5983.
Back to OVC Visiting Fellowship Program |
