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

This $625,000 Project Grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women (CFDA 16.889 - Grants for Outreach and Services to Underserved Populations) will enable Thrive Together Today, Inc., a non-profit organization in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to enhance culturally and linguistically appropriate services for deaf victims/survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The funding will be used to intensify outreach strategies to raise awareness of gender-based violence in deaf communities, and to train and educate service providers, including the criminal and civil justice system, on the diverse needs of deaf survivors. Additionally, the organization will expand partnerships with key local organizations to build overall capacity for serving this underserved population across five targeted counties in Iowa.

The grants for outreach and services to underserved populations (underserved program) was statutorily created in the violence against women reauthorization act of 2013 (vawa 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) strengthen the response of social and human services by providing population-specific training for service providers on domestic violence, dating violence sexual assault, or stalking in underserved populations. Eligible applicants are limited to: population specific organizations or victim service providers that are (1) deaf programs (2) lesbian, GAY, bisexual, and transgender (lgbt) organizations, (3) organizations serving underserved religious populations, (4) disability programs, or (5) organizations serving certain underserved racial and ethnic populations. Thrive together today will target five iowa counties with significant deaf populations, focusing on teenagers, seniors, and lgbtq+ people. We will concentrate on rural pockets of scott, johnson, and linn counties in southeastern/eastern iowa, polk county in central iowa, and pottawattamie county in western iowa. The organization aims to enhance culturally and linguistically appropriate services to deaf victims/survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. We will accomplish this by intensifying outreach strategies to raise awareness of gender-based violence in deaf communities and train and educate service providers on the diverse needs of deaf survivors, specifically hearing organizations and the criminal and civil justice system. Because collaboration is crucial to providing optimal services to deaf victims of gender-based violence, thrive together today is expanding partnerships with one iowa (serving the lgbtq+ community), iowa deaf senior citizens, iowa association of the deaf, and monsoon asians & pacific islanders in solidarity to help build capacity overall.