Partnership Resource Network
Project Name: Crime Victim Assistance Network of Brooklyn
Applicant: New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG)
Applicant Type: NonProfit
Application Number: 2012-40269-NY-VF
Funding Request: $400,000
Focus: Victims and Victimization, Crime Victimization
Location: NY
Areas Covered: Brooklyn, NY
Summary: The Crime Victim Assistance Network of Brooklyn (CAN-B) seeks $400,000 to address the lack of coordinated legal services for crime victims in Brooklyn. CAN-B will develop a replicable model, drawing on members’ experience with a prototype, to provide holistic, culturally competent legal services for the borough’s diverse, high-need, underserved, frequently culturally isolated crime victims. The network partners include the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) a comprehensive civil legal services provider that will serve as the lead agency; the Center for Court Innovation (CCI) that will conduct the needs assessment and work with the network partners to develop an implementation plan; the Kings County District Attorney’s Office that can provide access to victims who report their crimes; Safe Horizon, a victims’ services agency that can provide access to victims who do not report their crimes; and the Brooklyn Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project that can recruit pro bono services for crime victims. CAN-B, working through CCI’s research team, will identify the needs of victims using a variety of scientific methods. CAN-B and CCI will identify gaps in services, develop a strategic plan for addressing those gaps, and create a network of agencies best placed to access, assess, and channel crime victims toward tightly coordinated, holistic legal services. Specific activities will include establishing the network’s governing structure; establishing mechanisms for communication and coordination; setting up Steering Committee work groups; mapping existing services; conducting victim surveys, interviews and focus groups; assessing network partners’ client data tracking systems; analyzing collected data and writing initial reports; developing a logic model; constructing an action plan; and writing an implementation plan.
If continuation funding is secured: NYLAG, Safe Horizon and the Brooklyn Bar will provide direct legal services and conduct trainings; NYLAG may launch a legal clinic that trains and utilizes law students to provide legal services to crime victims; CCI will hold presentations on the findings of the needs assessment for lawyers, judges and court staff so that courts can better respond to victims’ needs; and ultimately, NYLAG and CCI will bring together a network of providers to ensure holistic legal services for all victims.
For Further Information:
Kim Susser
Director, Matrimonial and Family Law
7 Hanover Square
18th Floor
New York, NY 10004
ksusser@nylag.org
(212) 613-5028
Application Submitted in Response to Solicitation: Wraparound Victim Assistance Network Demonstration Project
Grants.gov Assigned Number: OVC-2012-3190