Domestic Violence Initiative For Women With Disabilities

Domestic Violence Initiative For Women With Disabilities, doing business as The Initiative, is a Colorado-based nonprofit tax-exempt organization that receives federal grants to provide victim advocacy, case management, emergency housing, and wraparound services to domestic violence survivors with disabilities and Deaf people. The organization operates primarily as a grant recipient (11% of recent awards as a prime grantee) and as a sub-recipient under state and federal pass-through agencies (89% of recent awards). The Initiative holds no federal contracts and no parent contract vehicles.

The Initiative's federal footprint centers on two prime grants from the U.S. Department of Justice and four primary pass-through states. As a direct prime recipient, The Initiative holds a $530,809 Education, Training, and Enhanced Services to End Violence Against and Abuse of Women with Disabilities grant (CFDA 16.529) from the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women, awarded August 1, 2026, running through July 31, 2029, with place of performance in Denver, Colorado. The award funds hiring of case management and systems navigation staff, delivery of emergency housing and basic needs support, and disability-specific staff training. A second prime award from the DOJ Victims of Crime office (award date October 1, 2024, completion July 31, 2027) funds expansion of safety planning, direct financial assistance, and wraparound services — including shelter and food access with priority on physical accessibility — beyond the Denver metro area to 22 rural counties in Colorado's Western Slope region.

As a sub-recipient, The Initiative appears in 17 awards flowing from Colorado state agencies: the Department of Human Services (nine sub-awards for domestic violence victim services and TANF Flex Funds emergency housing assistance), the Colorado Department of Public Safety (five sub-awards for victim advocacy and victim services to disabled crime victims, dating from 2023), and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (three sub-awards for sexual violence prevention work). Sub-award dates range from January 2023 to September 2026, with multiple amendments extending contract periods and increasing amounts.

The Initiative's customer concentration aligns with federal victim-services and violence-prevention grant streams routed through state intermediaries. The DOJ Victims of Crime office accounts for nine awards across the portfolio, with the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and HHS Administration for Children and Families each holding three awards, and the DOJ Office on Violence Against Women holding one direct prime. Total combined dollars obligated across all 19 awards is $2 million. Activity is steady — two awards in 2021 and 2023, three in 2024, and six each in 2025 and 2026. Only one award carries a completion date within the next twenty-four months. Place of performance spans Denver and rural Colorado counties throughout the state.