The U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has announced the Justice for Families Program 2021.

OVW is a component of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Created in 1995, OVW administers grant programs authorized by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and subsequent legislation and provides national leadership on issues of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. OVW grants support coordinated community responses to hold offenders accountable and serve victims.

The Grants to Support Families in the Justice System program (referred to as the Justice for Families Program) was authorized in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013) to improve the response of the civil and criminal justice system to families with a history of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, or in cases involving allegations of child sexual abuse.

The program supports the following activities for improving the capacity of courts and communities to respond to families affected by the targeted crimes: court-based and court-related programs; supervised visitation and safe exchange by and between parents; training for people who work with families in the court system; civil legal services; and the provision of resources in juvenile court matters.

OVW Priority Areas

In FY 2021, OVW is interested in supporting the priority areas identified below. Applications proposing activities in the following areas will be given special consideration:

• Reduce violent crime against women and promote victim safety through investing in law enforcement, increasing prosecution, and promoting effective prevention. Applications meaningfully addressing purpose area 5(a) (34 U.S.C. § 12464(b)(5)(A)) by developing or enhancing specialized courts, consolidating courts and/or dockets, and/or creating special intake centers will receive special consideration.
• Increase resources for courts and tribes to register protection orders in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and give access to tribes to crime information systems. Applications meaningfully addressing purpose area 5(d) (34 U.S.C. § 12464(b)(5)(D) by developing or enhancing safe and confidential information storage and information-sharing databases within and between court systems will receive special consideration.
• Increase efforts to combat stalking. To receive special consideration under this priority, applicants must clearly identify how they will meaningfully engage in efforts to combat stalking.

Funding Information

This program typically makes awards in the range of $550,000 for standard projects and $650,000 for comprehensive projects. OVW estimates that it will make up to 19 standard awards and three to five comprehensive awards for an estimated $13,000,000. Funding levels under this program for FY 2021 are:

• Standard projects: up to $550,000 for the entire 36 months.
• Comprehensive projects: up to $650,000 for the entire 36 months.

Eligible Applicants

• County governments
• City or township governments
• Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
• Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
• State governments

For more information, visit Grants.gov.