Office on Violence Against Women Grants Help Reduce Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking

First OVW Application Deadline is April 5^th!

Since 1995, the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has administered grant programs in higher education. The nineteen grant programs authorized by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) since 1994 as well as subsequent legislation, have encouraged colleges and universities to develop and strengthen security and investigation strategies to prevent domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campuses. In addition, these grants support the development and strengthening of victim services in cases involving these crimes on campus as well as prevention education and awareness programs. This year, OVW estimates that up to fifty awards will be made ranging from $300,000 to $750,000 for 36 months.

Private, Public and State controlled higher education institutions and tribal and minority-serving institutions of higher learning are all eligible to apply. In FY 2022, OVW will accept applications from the following applicants:

• New applicants that have never received funding under this program or whose previous funding expired on or before March 10, 2021
• Continuing applicants that have an existing or recently closed award under the program, however, continuation funding is not guaranteed

Please read the full OVW FY 2022 Grants announcement to determine your institution’s eligibility.

OVW funding has enabled campuses across the country to leverage Kognito’s digital practice-based experiential learning to address sexual misconduct prevention, bystander intervention, and informed consent.

OVW Mandatory Program Requirements

Applicants and grantees that receive funding are required to comply with the statutory minimum requirements and additional requirements outlined below:

1. Create a Coordinated Community Response (CCR) that includes both organizations external to the institution and relevant divisions of the institution. This includes creating a CCR team of external partnerships as outlined in the External Memorandum of Understanding (EMOU) with:
   a.) At least one criminal justice agency such as a local law enforcement agency, prosecutor’s office, or court. AND
   b.) At least one domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking victim service provider within the community where your institution is located.This also includes creating a CCR team of Internal Partnerships as outlined in the Internal Memorandum of Understanding (IMOU) with a range of offices, departments, and organizations within your institution (see full announcement for details).
   Kognito’s Level of Support: Supports partially
   How Kognito Meets the Requirement: Kognito integrates a local resource page within each product and lists both relevant on-campus and off-campus support services.
2. Establish a mandatory prevention/education program about domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking for all incoming (first year and transfer) students.
   Kognito’s Level of Support: Supports fully
   How Kognito Meets the Requirement: Kognito’s Sexual Misconduct Prevention for Students offers training around warning signs, bystander intervention, checking for consent, supporting a friend, confidential versus non-confidential/mandatory reporting, and healthy relationships.
3. Train all campus law enforcement to respond effectively to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
   Kognito’s Level of Support: Supported by Sexual Misconduct Prevention for Faculty & Staff
   How Kognito Meets the Requirement: Kognito will be releasing Sexual Misconduct Prevention for Faculty & Staff late summer 2022 that will offer training around these key subject areas.
4. Train all participants in the disciplinary process, including members of campus disciplinary boards and investigators, to respond efficiently and effectively to all situations involving domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
   Kognito’s Level of Support: Currently not supported
   How Kognito Meets the Requirement: Kognito currently does not support this requirement.

Additional Mandatory Requirements:

1. Implement universal prevention strategies that include an on-going prevention program on domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking for the entire campus community AND a bystander intervention program for all students.
   Kognito’s Level of Support:  Supports partially
   How Kognito Meets the Requirement: Through the use of Kognito training, we support the reduction of risk factors and improve protective factors for students on college campuses.
2. Provide comprehensive, confidential victim services and advocacy by either partnering with an off-campus victim service provider OR developing a campus-based victim services program.
   Kognito’s Level of Support: Currently not supported
   How Kognito Meets the Requirement: Kognito currently does not support this requirement.
3. Work closely with OVW TA providers throughout the entire project period.
   Kognito’s Level of Support: Supports fully
   How Kognito Meets the Requirement: Kognito provides a client success manager to support onboarding and implementation for the duration of the client’s contract.
4. Participate in an OVW-sponsored assessment or program evaluation, if applicable.
   Kognito’s Level of Support: Supports partially
   How Kognito Meets the Requirement: As part of Kognito’s implementation services, all users will complete pre, post, and follow-up surveys that will provide institutions with qualitative and quantitative data to help measure the success of the program.
5. Follow the appropriate staffing and activities requirements for New and Continuation grantees, as outlined on page 10 of the OVW FY 2022 Announcement.
   Kognito’s Level of Support: Supports partially
   How Kognito Meets the Requirement: Our client success team helps to inform strategic and implementation planning as it relates to planning and training curricula.

2022 OVW Grant Program Design with Kognito’s Higher Education Products

Kognito has worked with more than 350 institutions to provide a unique cost-effective, research-proven  solution. Kognito can rapidly train university faculty, staff, students, and student leaders by equipping them with the skills for preventing sexual assault, bystander intervention, differentiating on-campus and off-campus confidential and non-confidential resource services, referring peers to help, and determining when consent has or has not been given.

To address the needs of the general student population, Kognito’s Sexual Misconduct Prevention for Students creates a safer and more connected college campus. This comprehensive practice-based experiential learning includes content required by law and is consistent with student campus training requirements under the Clery Act, the Campus SaVE Act, and Title IX guidelines.

Kognito Client Services

Kognito takes an active role in assisting with rollout, promotion, and assessment of our products. Our client success team works closely with our customers, providing them with training materials and a tailored strategy to achieve their dissemination targets. This approach significantly reduces the time commitment and resources that a client would usually need to allocate to make these programs successful.

If you’re interested in learning more or want to experience Kognito for yourself, you can access any of our product demos on our website.

Your 2022 OVW Grant Proposal Timeline

To submit an application, all applicants must register with the System for Award Management (SAM) and Grants.gov by April 5, 2022. After registering, applications are submitted through a two-step process:

1. Submission of the SF-424 and SF-LLL in Grants.gov by April 21, 2022
2. Submission of the full application, including attachments, in the Justice Grants System (JustGrants) by April 26, 2022

For more details on registration and submissions, see the full announcement.