The research and evaluation (R & E) initiative is authorized by 34 USC 12291(B)(7), which permits OVW to set aside up to three percent of available funds from most OVW programs to conduct…

The research and evaluation (R & E) initiative is authorized by 34 USC 12291(B)(7), which permits OVW to set aside up to three percent of available funds from most OVW programs to conduct evaluations of promising practices for combatting domestic/dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and to research issues emerging in the field. By generating more knowledge about strategies for serving victims and holding offenders accountable, communities that benefit from violence against women act (VAWA) funding will be better equipped to align their work with practices that are known to be effective, and they will be more capable of building empirical knowledge on the efficacy of new and promising ways of making communities safer. Justice information resource network, INC. Will partner with the national resource center on domestic violence to conduct this study of a flexible financial assistance model that is designed to increase survivors' safety, disrupt the cycle of homelessness, and address obstacles to accessing and maintaining housing. Focused on two culturally specific domestic violence organizations in the southeastern region of the united states, the study will employ a culturally responsive and equitable evaluation approach, prioritizing the perspectives of historically underserved and marginalized populations in the examination of the flexible financial assistance model. The project comprises three phases: 1) collaboratively developing site- specific implementation plans; 2) evaluating the implementation of the flexible funding program; and 3) dissemination of a flexible funding toolkit developed in partnership with the evaluation sites with the goal of building evidence on the processes, organizational capacity, and infrastructure required to implement an effective flexible funding model in victim-serving organizations.