March 5, 1999
Dear Colleague:
I am pleased to present the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Discretionary Program Application Kit for Fiscal Year 1999. The OVC Application Kit complements this year's Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Program Plan, which incorporates the program announcements of all of the OJP bureaus and funding offices, including OVC. Where the OJP Program Plan groups its announcements by theme rather than by funding source, the Application Kit advertises only those solicitations issued by OVC.
This year's OVC Application Kit offers two opportunities for organizations in the fields of health and mental health to identify and promote promising practices that enhance services for crime victims. It also invites proposals to establish Statewide victim assistance academies for victim service providers, victim advocates, and criminal justice personnel. Solicitations are requested from organizations to assist in developing strategies for individual and organizational standards of practice for the enhancement of services to crime victims. The Kit further advertises projects designed for Indian Country, including Native American victim assistance programs, a video on post traumatic stress following sexual assault, a demonstration Tribal victim-witness program, an analysis of victims' rights among Tribal governments, and two training and technical assistance projects for OVC's Native American grantees. Finally, OVC solicits applications to develop user friendly resource materials for use during National Crime Victims' Rights Week in the year 2000.
I hope the following solicitations will bring creative, collaborative proposals from the many dedicated individuals and organizations whose work touches the lives of crime victims. I also encourage you to explore the numerous funding opportunities available through the other bureaus and offices of OJP. For additional information, I invite you to review the OJP Fiscal Year 1999 Program Plan, which you will find at the OJP World Wide Web homepage at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov.
Kathryn M. Turman
Acting Director