OVW Fiscal Year 2024 Grants to Enhance Culturally Specific Services for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking Program | O OVW 2024 171965

Opportunity Information: Apply for O OVW 2024 171965

The OVW Fiscal Year 2024 Grants to Enhance Culturally Specific Services for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Program (often referred to as the Culturally Specific Services Program, or CSSP) is a discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). It is tied to CFDA 16.016 and sits in the Law, Justice, and Legal Services funding area. The core goal is to strengthen and expand community-based victim services that are specifically designed to be culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate for communities that often face barriers when trying to use more traditional or mainstream victim service systems.

This program funds two broad types of work. First, it supports the maintenance and replication of existing successful culturally specific programs that already provide effective services for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Second, it supports the development of new and innovative culturally specific strategies and projects intended to improve access to services and resources for victims who encounter obstacles such as language barriers, discrimination, immigration-related fears, lack of culturally competent providers, geographic isolation, or historical mistrust of systems. In practice, that means OVW is looking for projects that either sustain what is already working in culturally specific communities or thoughtfully build new approaches that remove real-world access barriers and make services more responsive to community needs.

A defining feature of this opportunity is how the law frames "culturally specific services" and who the program is intended to serve. Under 34 U.S.C. 12291(a)(9), culturally specific services are community-based services that include culturally relevant and linguistically specific services and resources for culturally specific communities. The term "culturally specific" is also defined in statute (34 U.S.C. 12291(a)(8)) as primarily directed toward racial and ethnic minority groups, with those groups defined in 42 U.S.C. 300u-6(g) to include American Indians (including Alaska Natives, Eskimos, and Aleuts), Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, Blacks, and Hispanics. The emphasis is not simply on offering general services to everyone, but on designing and delivering services in a way that is grounded in the community's language, cultural practices, and lived realities.

Eligibility is intentionally narrow and focused. Applicants must be private nonprofit organizations or tribal organizations whose primary purpose as an organization is to provide culturally specific services to one or more of the listed communities within the United States or U.S. territories. The opportunity lists eligible applicant types as Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments), nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education), and nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status (also excluding institutions of higher education), along with certain other entities that meet the statutory and program eligibility requirements. The key practical test is whether the organization exists primarily to serve the specified culturally specific community or communities and provides services in a way that is culturally and linguistically specific, not incidental or secondary to a broader mission.

The funding instrument is a grant, with an award ceiling of $450,000. OVW anticipated making about 50 awards under this solicitation. The opportunity was created on March 13, 2024, and the original application closing date was May 2, 2024. Because this is a competitive discretionary program, applicants generally need to present a clear project design, a strong justification tied to community need, and an implementation plan that demonstrates how proposed services will be delivered effectively and in a culturally grounded manner.

Overall, the CSSP grant is aimed at strengthening the network of culturally specific, community-based organizations that survivors often trust first and rely on most. It is meant to help those organizations keep proven services running, replicate models that have demonstrated success, and create new culturally specific approaches that make it easier for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking to access safety, advocacy, and support in ways that reflect their language, culture, and community context.

• The Office on Violence Against Women in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "OVW Fiscal Year 2024 Grants to Enhance Culturally Specific Services for Victims of Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.016.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-03-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-05-02. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $450,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 50 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Others.

Apply for O OVW 2024 171965

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