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 Child Protect of Mercer County, Inc. $950,000 on October 1, 2025, under the Rural Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Assistance Program (CFDA 16.589).

Child Protect, a tax-exempt nonprofit headquartered in Princeton, West Virginia, will identify, assess, and appropriately respond to child, youth, and adult victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking in rural communities. The recipient will establish and expand victim services, increase safety and well-being in rural communities, and develop, expand, and improve sexual assault forensic medical examination and sexual assault nurse examiner programs. Child Protect implements this project in partnership with the Princeton Police Department.

The award covers the period from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2028, with place of performance in Princeton, West Virginia. The assistance type is a Project Grant.

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 continuation OVW rural program project, child protect of mercer county, INC., in partnership with the princeton police department and the mercer county prosecuting attorneys office, will implement the hope in the holler: rural services improvement project. This victim service, sexual assault nurse examiner (sane), law enforcement, and prosecution-focused project addresses the following purpose areas: 1, 2, and 4 in the rural community of mercer county, west virginia. Specific activities will include: 1) forensic interviewing for children, youth, and cognitively impaired adult victims of violence against women-specific crimes; 2) providing victim advocacy and support services (to include sane andforensic medical exam accompaniment, court accompaniment andcoordination of emergency shelter, housing, transportation, and basic needs assistance) to children, youth andadult victims of violence against women-specific crimes; 3) providing on-site, non-acute pediatric forensic medical examination services to child and youth victims of sexual assault; 4) deliver around-the-clock sane medical response to princeton community hospitals for acute sexual assaults and recruit and train at least two new sane nurses to the program; 5) trauma-informed mental health services to children, youth, and adult victims of violence against women-specific crimes; 6) improving mercer county mdit and sart teams functioning through coordination, facilitation and protocol reviews and revisions; and 7) building trauma-informed investigation and prosecution of sexual assault cases. During the project, the recipient will develop the following products: direct services data reports, client satisfaction surveys, investigation and prosecution outcomes, program reports, and training certificates.