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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("Recovery Act") of 2009 was signed into law by the President on February 17, 2009.  The law included a direct appropriation of $100 million in grant funding to be administered by the Office for Victms of Crime (OVC). Visit Recovery Act Funding and OVC for more information.

Register on or before March 16, 2009 for the Fifth National Sexual Assault Response Team Training Conference (May 27-29, 2009) at the reduced rate of $425.00. The registration fee after March 16, 2009 is $475.00. The OVC-funded event will feature 57 workshops, 6 keynote speakers, and an interactive improvisational closing performance.

On March 18, 2009 at 2 pm (et), OVC and OJJDP are sponsoring an OVC Web Forum Guest Host Session on Providing Services to Victims of Bullying with Dr. Susan Limber and Dr. Patricia Agatston, coauthors of Cyber Bullying: Bullying in the Digital Age. If you missed the February 18th Session on Safety Planning for Teen Victims of Dating Violence, you can view it online now!

OVC has released the online-only Victim Impact: Listen and Learn Curriculum, geared toward helping offenders to become aware of the impact that crime has on victims. Victims and survivors speak about their experiences in the accompanying video clips.

OVC invites applications for State Victim Assistance Academy (SVAA) grants to develop SVAAs in states where one does not yet exist. Up to six first-year awards of $35,000 are available for this 3-year project. Apply by April 1, 2009.

OVC will award up to $2.5 million to federally recognized tribes and nonprofit tribal organizations to improve the capacity of existing tribal systems to handle child abuse cases. Apply by April 6, 2009.

OVC will award $500,000 to provide training and technical assistance to American Indian/Native American grantees who have received funding through the FY09 Children’s Justice Act (CJA) Partnerships for Indian Communities Discretionary Grant Program. Apply by April 6, 2009.

International Association of Chiefs of Police is seeking entries for the IACP/LogIn Excellence in Victim Services Award, which honors law enforcement agencies demonstrating excellence in innovative services to victims through victim-centered best practices.  Check IACP's Web site for more information; entries are due by April 10, 2009.

National Youth Violence Prevention Week: March 23–27, 2009

Click on the Community Wheel and find out how you can get involved with The National Youth Violence Prevention  Campaign.  Each day of the week will focus on a specific violence prevention strategy. The Campaign will offer activities, information, and spokespersons to support each day's focus. To reinforce this week-long educational initiative, the Campaign is encouraging schools to host in-school violence prevention conferences on March 30th.

OVC also offers several resources on school and community issues, which provide information to help students cope with violence and address underlying causes of conflict.

National Crime Victims’ Rights Week: April 26–May 2, 2009

To help you plan for the upcoming National Crime Victims' Rights Week (NCVRW), April 26–May 2, 2009, OVC has released its annual NCVRW Resource Guide online, which features materials to help communities promote awareness of crime victim issues, including:

• Theme DVD and PSA.
• Suggestions for Working With the Media

OVC will open NCVRW with two prelude events in Washington, D.C. To learn about other NCVRW events, please visit OVC's National Calendar of Events.