**This opportunity may be appropriate for Defender programs with existing relationships with Victims Services programs.**
The primary purpose of the OVW Training and Technical Assistance Initiative (TA Initiative) is to provide direct technical assistance to existing and potential grantees and sub-grantees to enhance and support their efforts to successfully implement projects supported by OVW grant funds. OVW’s TA Initiative is designed to build and enhance the capacity of civil and criminal justice system professionals and victim service providers across the nation to respond effectively to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking and foster partnerships among organizations that have not traditionally worked together to address violence against women. For additional information on the TA Initiative, including what past technical assistance cooperative agreement recipients have accomplished with their grant funds and to view the TA Initiative performance measures and grantee-reported data, see http://muskie.usm.maine.edu/vawamei/taprovidergraphs.htm.
In FY 2018, funds under the TA Initiative may be used for the purposes identified in this solicitation. There are three categories of technical assistance in FY 2018: Targeted; Competitive Comprehensive; and Non-Competitive Comprehensive. Applicants must submit separate and distinct applications for each purpose area for which they are applying. For example, an applicant interested in applying to provide training and technical assistance on culturally relevant services for communities of color should apply separately if it also wants to provide trial advocacy and/or litigation skills training for attorneys.
Eligible applicants are generally limited to national, tribal, statewide, or other nonprofit organizations with the capacity to provide nationwide training and technical assistance. In limited circumstances, OVW may support institutions of higher education and state, local, or tribal governments or governmental agencies (e.g., police departments, prosecutor’s offices, or probation departments) or local nonprofit organizations.