The rural domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking program (rural program) is authorized by 34 U.S.C. 12341

The Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women awarded the North Dakota Domestic & Sexual Violence Coalition $950,000 under the Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Assistance Program (CFDA 16.589) on October 1, 2025.

The award funds victim services, identification, assessment, and response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in rural North Dakota communities. The recipient will establish and expand victim services for child, youth, and adult victims in rural areas and develop or strengthen sexual assault forensic medical examination or sexual assault nurse examiner programs. Work is performed in Bismarck, North Dakota, with the period of performance extending through September 30, 2028.

The program requires grantees to employ at least one strategy from a defined set including cooperative efforts among law enforcement, prosecutors, and victim service providers; direct treatment, counseling, advocacy, and legal assistance to victims; community-based education and prevention initiatives; and programs addressing the specific needs of victims in remote or geographically isolated areas.

Rural program funds are used to support programs that: 1) identify, assess, and appropriately respond to child, youth, and adult victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking in rural communities; 2) establish and expand victim services in rural communities to child, youth, and adult victims; 3) increase the safety and well-being of women and children in rural communities, by (a) dealing directly and immediately with domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking; and (B) creating and implementing strategies to increase awareness and prevent these crimes; and 4) develop, expand, implement, and improve the quality of sexual assault forensic medical examination or sexual assault nurse examiner programs. Grantees must use at least one of the following strategies in implementing their projects: 1) implement, expand, and establish cooperative efforts and projects among law enforcement officers, prosecutors, victim service providers, and other related parties to investigate and prosecute incidents of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking; 2) provide treatment, counseling, advocacy, legal assistance, and other long-term and short-term victim and population specific services to adult and minor victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking in rural communities; 3) work in cooperation with the community to develop education and prevention strategies directed toward such issues; 4) develop, enlarge, or strengthen programs addressing sexual assault; and 5) develop programs and strategies that focus on the specific needs of victims of who reside in remote rural and geographically isolated areas. Through this new OVW rural program project, north dakota domestic & sexual violence coalition, in partnership with the domestic violence and rape crisis center/dickinson and dunn-stark sexual assault response team (SART), family crisis shelter/williston and mckenzie SART, women's action & resource center/beulah and mercer-oliver SART, abuse resource network/lisbon and ransom-sargent SART, and three rivers crisis center /wahpeton and richland SART, will implement the addressing rural north dakota sexual assault project. This project addresses the following purpose areas: 1, 2, 3, and 4 for dunn, stark, mckenzie, mercer, oliver, ransom, sargent, and richland counties. Specific activities will include: 1) overseeing and administering the project and provide focused technical assistance and training (TTA) and other support to the project-designated rural SA victim services programs and the project-designated rural sarts; 2) providing trauma-informed crisis intervention, safety planning, and other advocacy services for rural remote women and girls (ages 14-17) and other rural adult and minor sexual assault victims; 3) providing coordination to their rural service area sarts; and 4) implementing and expanding sane-SART efforts to identify, assess, and more appropriately respond to rural women, youth, and other sexual assault victims and hold sexual assault offenders more accountable through collaboration between SA victim services programs, criminal justice/law enforcement, medical/sane, and other rural stakeholders. During the project, the recipient will develop the following products: rural womens sexual assault brochure, rural womens sexual assault awareness and reporting information poster, sexual assault program session agendas, resources and materials, SART meeting agendas, memorandum of understanding's, and updated policies/procedures.