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…

The Community Refugee And Immigration Services Inc. (CRIS) was awarded a $600,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women under the Grants for Outreach and Services to Underserved Populations (CFDA 16.889) program. The grant will support CRIS's efforts to develop and implement targeted outreach strategies and provide victim services for adult and youth survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking within refugee, immigrant, and asylum-seeking populations. Key activities include:

1. Developing and distributing training materials, brochures, and posters in English and other native languages to improve access to resources for survivors.
2. Ensuring language access and providing educational materials on victim rights and legal systems for refugee, immigrant, and asylum-seeking survivors.
3. Offering crisis supports through safety planning, resource navigation, and transportation assistance.
4. Providing opportunities for social engagement and community building, as well as trauma-informed client support and emotional regulation skills training for survivors.

The three-year project period runs from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2027.

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. The vision of community and refugee immigration services (CRIS) is to provide immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking survivors with culturally relevant services that would otherwise be inaccessible. To continue this vision, CRIS will develop and distribute training materials including brochures and posters in english as well as other native languages for survivors to access resources pertinent to survivors. CRIS will ensure language access for refugee, immigrant, and asylum-seeking survivors. CRIS will provide educational materials on victim rights and criminal and legal systems. CRIS will provide crisis supports through safety planning and resource navigation. CRIS will assist with transportation for survivors to appointments. CRIS will provide opportunity for social engagement and community building for survivors. CRIS will provide trauma-informed client support as well as work to build emotional regulation skills within survivors.