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The STOP Violence Against Women (VAWA)
Grant Program
The STOP Violence Against Women programs (VAWA) responsibility is to develop a means by which West Virginia can ensure a safer environment for women. This includes improvements to the criminal justice and victim service systems by offering a coordinated approach to victims needs, focusing on violent crime prevention efforts, increasing services available for victims and evaluating all programs to assist with improvements.
The STOP Violence Against Women program is mandated under the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
Goals and objectives include:
- Increase coordination
and communication among representatives of the justice
system, victim services and health care providers in
responding to victims of violence against women
- Continue
the work of the West Virginians Against Violence
Committee to oversee the STOP Violence Against
Women Program and the Victims of Crime Act Program
- Expand
participation on a statewide and local level to
include more than criminal justice and victim
service professionals (i.e. legislature, legal
services, adult protective services, education
professionals, health professionals, etc.)
- Increase
the number of county teams that consist of, at
least, prosecution, victim service providers and
law enforcement to plan and implement a
coordinated community response to victims of
violence against women.
- Evaluate
the impact of funded STOP teams on law
enforcement, prosecution and victims services
statistics and the degree to which interagency
relationships have become institutionalized.
- Increase
joint training of all professionals and
paraprofessionals that provide services to victims of
violence against women.
- Using
the model coordinated community response
curriculum initially designed for law enforcement,
develop sections specific to other groups,
including magistrates, circuit and family law
judges, prosecutors, corrections officers,
probation and parole staff, victim advocates,
healthcare providers, and mental health care
providers.
- Provide
coordinated community response training to law
enforcement officers from all fifty-five counties
using training teams composed of law enforcement
officers, domestic violence advocates and
prosecutors.
- Provide
eight hours of annual continuing education for law
enforcement officers to address crime scene
investigation and reporting, evidence collection,
full faith and credit, dual arrest, law
enforcement responsibility in civil cases, and
other topics relevant to violence against women.
- Provide
annual training to improve coordinated community
response for Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART)
and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE).
- Increase
public awareness of violence against women and
prevention efforts.
- Revise
and distribute a service directory of available
services for female victims of violence.
- Assess
domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking
public awareness and out reach programs to insure
that underserved populations are included on the
local level.
- Provide
public awareness of violence against women issues
at the college and high school levels.
- Improve
prosecution of domestic violence, sexual assault and
stalking crimes.
- Increase the number of
assistant prosecuting attorneys committed to the
prosecution of domestic violence, sexual assault,
and stalking cases.
- Develop
local protocols in each STOP funded county to:
- Implement
a team approach to prosecution among
prosecutors, law enforcement and victim
service advocates;
- Support
evidence-based/victimless prosecutions;
- Regularly
collect data regarding the disposition of
domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking
cases.
- Increase
the number of compliance monitors to increase
perpetrator accountability in STOP-funded counties
that also have licensed perpetrator intervention
programs.
- Provide
at least one legal advocate in every STOP-funded
county
- Increase
the number of SANEs and increase trainings on the
use of sex crimes kits.
- Increase
services available to female victims of violence.
- Expand
services and resources for underserved
populations, including people with disabilities;
elderly victims; victims of racial and ethnic
minorities; victims who live in isolated, rural
areas; and gay, lesbian and transgender victims.
- Increase
referrals from colleges and universities to
domestic violence and sexual assault providers for
educational and direct victim services.
- Increase
the number of rural health clinics and licensed
medical facilities that will conduct sexual
assault examinations with their own staff or the
assistance of a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner as a
consultant.
- Develop
and implement a domestic violence and sexual
assault identification and response protocol at
every Joint Council on Accreditation of Hospital (JCAH)
accredited medial facility.
The West Virginians Against Violence Committee, created in 1995 by the Governor, serves as the advisory board for West Virginia's STOP Violence Against Women Grant Program. The Committee consists of nine members with representatives from the following agencies: WV State Police, U.S. Attorney's Office (Northern and Southern Districts), Upshur County Prosecutor's Office, WV Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Foundation for Rape Information and Services, Division of Juvenile Services, WV Supreme Court of Appeals, and the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia.
In FY
2000, 32 VAWA projects were funded in West Virginia. Due
to an additional cut in Federal grant funding, again
there were no new projects funded during this fiscal
year. Of the funded projects, 28 were local projects and
4 were statewide initiatives. Statewide initiatives included: evaluation of the STOP teams,
statewide Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) training
and statewide Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE)
training, statewide law enforcement training, statewide
prosecution training, statewide advocate training,
statewide training for judges and court personnel and a
statewide database for the 13 domestic violence
programs.
In FY
2001, 33 VAWA projects were funded in West Virginia. Due
to an additional cut in Federal grant funding, again
there were no new projects funded during this fiscal
year. Of the funded projects, 28 were local projects and
5 were statewide initiatives. Statewide initiatives included: evaluation of the STOP teams,
statewide Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) training
and statewide Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE)
training, statewide law enforcement training, statewide
prosecution training, statewide advocate training,
statewide training for judges and court personnel and a
statewide database for the 13 domestic violence
programs.
In FY
2002, 35 VAWA projects were funded in West Virginia. Due
to an additional cut in Federal grant funding, again
there were no new projects funded during this fiscal
year. Of the funded projects, 30 were local projects and
5 were statewide initiatives. Statewide initiatives included: evaluation of the STOP teams,
statewide Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) training
and statewide Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE)
training, statewide law enforcement training, statewide
prosecution training, statewide advocate training,
statewide training for judges and court personnel and a
statewide database for the 13 domestic violence
programs.
In FY
2003, 33 VAWA projects were funded in West Virginia. Due
to an additional cut in Federal grant funding, again
there were no new projects funded during this fiscal
year. Of the funded projects, 29 were local projects and
4 were statewide initiatives. Statewide initiatives included: evaluation of the STOP teams,
statewide Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) training
and statewide Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE)
training, statewide law enforcement training, statewide
prosecution training, statewide advocate training,
statewide training for judges and court personnel and a
statewide database for the 14 domestic violence
programs.
In
FY 2004, 32 VAWA projects were funded in West Virginia.
Due to an additional cut in Federal grant funding, again
there were no new projects funded during this fiscal
year. Of the funded projects, 27 were local
projects and 5 were statewide initiatives. Statewide
initiatives included: evaluation of the STOP teams,
statewide Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) training
and statewide Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE)
training, statewide law enforcement training, statewide
prosecution training, statewide advocate training,
statewide training for judges and court personnel, the
implementation and maintenance of a domestic violence
registry, and a
statewide database for the 14 domestic violence
programs.
VAWA Funding Criteria
Grants under this program must include one or more of the following purposes:
- Training law enforcement officers and prosecutors to more effectively identify and respond to violent crimes against women, including sexual assault and domestic violence.
- Developing, training, or expanding specialized units of law enforcement officers and prosecutors targeting violent crimes against women, including sexual assault and domestic violence.
- Developing and implementing more effective police and prosecution policies, protocols, orders, and services specifically dedicated to preventing, identifying and responding to violent crimes against women.
- Developing, installing or expanding data collection and communication systems, including computerized systems that link police, prosecutors, and courts or that are designed to identify and track arrests, protection orders, violations of protection orders, prosecutions, and convictions for violent crimes against women.
- Developing, enlarging or strengthening victim service programs; developing or improving delivery of victim services to racial, cultural, ethnic, and language minorities; providing specialized domestic violence advocates in courts where a significant number of protection orders are granted; and increasing reporting and reducing attrition rates for cases involving violent crimes against women.
- Developing, enlarging or strengthening programs addressing stalking.
Allowable costs include but are not limited to the following:
- Personnel expenses (direct service)
- Contractual expenses (portion)
- Travel/Training expenses
- Space
- Telephone
- Equipment
- Program material, supplies, etc.
- Evaluation
- Data Collection
Next Funding Cycle: July 1,
2008 - June 30, 2009
New grant applications will not
be solicited for the FY 2008 grant funds.
Read our
WV Three-Year (FY 2007-2009) STOP Violence Against Women
Implementation Plan.
Web
sites and online services
Court of Claims - Crime Victims Compensation Fund
Faith-based Victim Assistance
First Response to Victims of
Crime (pdf - download)
Forensic Medical Exam Legislation
Institute on
Domestic Violence in the African American Community
Minority Community Victim Assistance Handbook
National Council of
Juvenile and Family Court Judges
Pennsylvania Coalition
Against Rape
Polygraph
Testing Legislation
Teen Dating
Violence Resource
WV
Prosecuting Attorneys Institute - Forensic Fund
WV Foundation for Rape
Information and Services (WVFRIS)
WV FRIS Sexual
Violence and Stalking - Intervention and Prevention
Resources
WV Coalition Against
Domestic Violence
WV Supreme Court of Appeals - Domestic Violence
Benchbook
Please contact
Lora Maynard at (304) 558-8814, extension 216 for more information, or complete the form below. ;
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