The grants for outreach and services to underserved populations (underserved program) was statutorily created in the violence against women reauthorization act of 2013 to develop and implement…

The U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women awarded a $600,000 Project Grant under the Grants for Outreach and Services to Underserved Populations (CFDA 16.889) program to Women For Afghan Women Inc. (WAW) in partnership with Connect NYC. The award supports efforts to develop and implement outreach strategies and provide victim services targeted at adult and youth Muslim survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in New York. Key activities include:

Providing case management for 150 survivors, financial assistance for 21 survivors, and phone/email support for 50 survivors. Developing and implementing monthly support groups, empowerment education programming for 300 survivors, 15 women's circle sessions, and 6 leadership/youth classes focused on domestic and sexual violence. Facilitating training for 3 mosques and local imams, hosting 2 annual family night events, conducting ongoing outreach with mosques, providing 1 training for police, and presenting annually at 2 police precincts. This project will exclusively serve Muslim survivors of the specified forms of violence and abuse.

The grants for outreach and services to underserved populations (underserved program) was statutorily created in the violence against women reauthorization act of 2013 to develop and implement outreach strategies targeted at adult or youth victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking in underserved populations, and to provide victim services to meet the needs of such populations. Grant funds may be used to: 1) work with federal, state, tribal, territorial, and local governments, agencies, and organizations to develop or enhance population specific victim services; 2) strengthen the capacity of underserved populations to provide population specific victim services; 3) strengthen the capacity of traditional victim service providers to provide population specific victim services; 4) strengthen the effectiveness of criminal and civil justice interventions by providing training for law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and other court personnel on domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking in underserved populations; 5) work in cooperation with an underserved population to develop and implement outreach, education, prevention, and intervention strategies that highlight available resources and the specific issues faced by victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking from underserved populations; or (6) provide population-specific training for social and human services providers on domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking in underserved populations. Women for afghan women (WAW), in collaboration with connect NYC, will implement this project to meet the needs of muslim domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking survivors in new york. With this award, the project will: 1) provide case management for 150 survivors; 2) provide financial assistance for 21 survivors; 3) provide phone and email support for 50 survivors; 4) develop and implement monthly support groups for survivors; 5) offer waws empowerment educational programming to 300 survivors; 6) provide 15 womens circle sessions focused on domestic violence and/or sexual assault; 7) provide 6 leadership and youth rising classes focused on domestic violence and/or sexual assault; 8) facilitate a four-week training for the leaders of three mosques and local imams; 9) facilitate two annual family night events to educate congregation members; 10) conduct ongoing outreach with local mosques and imams; 11) provide one training for police officers; and 12) present annually at roll call within two police precincts. This project will only address, and serve survivors of, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and/or stalking.