INTRODUCTION
Since the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was enacted as Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, groundbreaking work has taken place in communities as victim advocates, police officers, prosecutors, and judges forge relationships with each other to address violence against women. VAWA has fundamentally changed the way that criminal justice agencies, victim advocacy organizations, and service providers within local communities address victim safety and offender accountability.

State sexual assault coalitions and state domestic violence coalitions have played a critical role in the implementation of VAWA, serving as a collective voice to end violence against women through collaboration with federal, state, and local organizations. Statewide sexual assault coalitions provide direct support to member rape crisis centers through funding, training and technical assistance, public awareness, and public policy advocacy. Statewide domestic violence coalitions provide comparable support to member domestic violence shelters and service providers. In some states and territories, these support services are provided through one dual sexual assault and domestic violence coalition. In a few other states, multiple state sexual assault and/or domestic violence coalitions exist.
In the Violence Against Women Act of 2000, Public Law 106-386, Congress authorized the Attorney General to award grants to state sexual assault and domestic violence coalitions. The Grants to State Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Coalitions Program is intended to provide federal financial assistance to state coalitions to support the coordination of state victim services activities, and collaboration and coordination with federal, state, and local entities engaged in violence against women activities.⁽¹⁾

SCOPE OF PROGRAM
Grants to State Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Coalitions Program funds may be used to:

• Coordinate state victim services activities; and
• Collaborate and coordinate with federal, state, and local entities engaged in violence against women activities.

Grant funds may be used for, but are not limited to, the following activities relating to the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act:

• Providing technical assistance to member agencies
• Expanding the technological capacity of coalitions and/or member programs
• Developing or enhancing appropriate standard of services for member programs, including culturally appropriate services to underserved populations
• Conducting statewide, regional and/or community-based meetings or workshops for victim advocates, survivors, legal service providers, and criminal justice representatives
• Bringing local programs together to identify gaps in services and to coordinate activities
• Increasing the representation of underserved populations in coordination activities, including providing financial assistance to underserved communities to participate in planning meetings, task forces, committees, etc.
• Engaging in activities that promote coalition building at the local and/or state level
• Coordinating federal, state and/or local law enforcement agencies to develop or enhance strategies to address identified problems
• Engaging in advocacy efforts with community organizations to effect policy and/or procedural change in order to improve the community’s responses to domestic violence and sexual assault. For example, state coalitions might work with law enforcement, prosecution, faith-based and other community agencies to enhance their responses to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. (However, no federal funding made available under this grant program may be used, directly or indirectly, to support the enactment, repeal, modification, or adoption of any law, regulation, or policy at any level of government without the express prior written approval of OVW.)

PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY

State Sexual Assault Coalitions

• Awards will be made to each sexual assault coalition, as determined by the Center for Injury Prevention and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. § 280b et seq.).

State Domestic Violence Coalitions

• Awards will be made to each domestic violence coalition, as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services through the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (42 U.S.C. § 10410 et seq.).

Dual sexual assault and domestic violence coalitions that appear on both of the above mentioned lists will receive the combined allocation for the state.
A list of eligible coalitions can be found in Appendix A of the Grants to State Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Coalitions Program solicitation, which is available at: http://www.usdoj.gov/currentsolicitations.htm.

PROGRAM LIMITATIONS
Grant funds may not be used for certain activities. Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Engaging in lobbying-related activities, including the development and/or distribution of materials and travel to a state or national meeting for the sole purpose of lobbying (This prohibition pertains to federal, state, local, and tribal lobbying.)
• Sub-contracting grant funds to member programs for the provision of direct services
• Hiring a grant writer or paying any portion of staff salary for this purpose
• Addressing child abuse outside the context of domestic violence and/or sexual assault

For more information about the Grants to State Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Coalitions Program, please contact:

Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)
800 K Street, N.W., Suite 920
Washington, D.C. 20530
Phone: 202-307-6026
Fax: 202-307-3911
TTY: 202-307-2277
Website: www.usdoj.gov/ovw

NOTES

1. Although both women and men may be victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, women are the victims of the vast majority of these crimes. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than 85% of violent victimizations by intimate partners between 1993 and 1998 were perpetrated against women. Women are between 13 and 14 times more likely than men to be raped or sexually assaulted; for instance, in 1994, 93% of sexual assaults were perpetrated against women. Four of five stalking victims are women. Data on male victimization do not show that males experience comparable victimizations and injury levels, do not account for women who act in self defense, and do not measure financial control, intimidation, and isolation used by perpetrators of domestic violence against women. For these reasons, this application kit may refer to victims as women and perpetrators as men. However, applicants who receive grants under this program must serve all victims regardless of gender.