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…

This Project Grant award of $600,000 from the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women under the Grants for Outreach and Services to Underserved Populations (CFDA 16.889) program will fund a 3-year project called KEHEALAH to provide culturally-informed services and outreach to Orthodox Jewish women in Illinois who are victims and survivors of domestic violence. The key products and services to be delivered include:

1. Providing culturally sensitive counseling and legal services to Orthodox Jewish women through the SHALVA organization.
2. Training for law enforcement, social service agencies, and the Orthodox and secular communities to better meet the needs of Orthodox Jewish women experiencing domestic violence.
3. Continuing legal education for family law attorneys on legal issues relevant to the Orthodox Jewish community.
4. Adapting SHALVA's healthy relationship program for young Orthodox couples to prevent domestic violence.
5. Increasing SHALVA's capacity to offer legal services to Orthodox clients in a culturally sensitive manner.

The award will allow SHALVA to deliver expedited safety net services to clients referred by the organization.

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. This grant will fund a project called kehealah (kehilla or kehealah is a transliteration of the word community from hebrew) and will target the underserved population of orthodox jewish women in illinois who are victims and survivors of domestic violence. The program has three goals: 1) increase theability to provide culturally informed, free and confidential clinical and legal services to orthodox jewish women; 2) provide enhanced educational programs for police officers, police social workers, for the jewish (including orthodox groups) and secular communities, to better meet and serve the specific needs of orthodox jewish women experiencing domestic violence; and 3) enhance theability to provide continuing legal education to family law attorneys on the legal family law related issues of the orthodox community. The grant will also allow the arkto deliver much needed expedited safety net services to clients referred by shalva. Shalva hopes to achieve these goals by effectively delivering the following activities and programs. 1) shalva will provide culturally sensitive counseling support to clients self-identifying as orthodox. 2) shalva will provide training to groups of law enforcement, social service agencies within the orthodox community, and lay individuals both within and outside the orthodox community, 3) shalva will continue annual training for members of the orthodox rabbinic task force, 4) shalva will identify and train a group of women who will serve as ambassadors, 5) shalva will adapt its successful healthy relationship program designed to improve communications and prevent domestic violence for young couples into a program, and 6) shalva will increase its capacity to offer legal services to orthodox clients in a culturally sensitive way.