OVW Announces Second Biennial Conferral

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) is beginning its second biennial conferral with stakeholders, and we want you to be part of it.

The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 establishes a conferral process to ensure OVW is informed by State and tribal coalitions, OVW technical assistance (TA) providers, and other key stakeholders in the field. Thus, the conferral process will emphasize feedback from these coalitions and TA providers, as well as crucial stakeholders such as STOP and SASP Administrators and grantees of other OVW programs. Tribal governments also have an annual consultation with OVW and provide input on VAWA programs, which will be included in OVW’s conferral report. This message constitutes initiation of the second conferral process.

The statutory areas of conferral are:

• the administration of grants;
• unmet needs;
• promising practices in the field; and
• emerging trends.

OVW initiated the 2013/2014 conferral process on September 6, 2013, held the first conferral session on September 24, 2013 and held the final conferral session on November 4, 2015.  OVW’s 2013/2014 conferral process was very broad and included approximately 20 conferral sessions. The OVW 2015/2016 conferral process will be more targeted and will focus on the statutorily-mandated conferral topics.  In the future, OVW may select specific discretionary grant programs for discussion.

Due to the continued emphasis on limiting conferences and travel expenditures, OVW will host most conferrals through a conference call and/or webinar process.  To save money while maximizing input from key stakeholders, OVW will also convene in-person conferral sessions at preexisting meetings.

To gather feedback from a wide range of key stakeholders, OVW will host a mix of invitation-only meetings and calls/webinars and sessions open to the general public.

Each conferral session – both in-person and virtual – will request feedback on the four statutory topic areas (administration of grants, unmet needs, promising practices in the field, and emerging trends), as well as any other issues raised by participating individuals. The conferral sessions will be structured as listening sessions, although OVW staff may answer questions if answers can be quickly and readily provided.

The conferral sessions will primarily occur during the spring and early fall, though some in-person sessions may be in the winter to use preexisting meetings. See below for planned dates of webinars/calls that are open to the public.

Individuals may register to attend as many public sessions as they like. To maximize the number of people who are able to speak during the sessions, commenters will generally be limited to three minutes, after which their lines will be muted. If the comment is obscene or hateful, OVW may mute the line sooner. If you don’t get the chance to speak or still have more to say, don’t worry – you can submit brief written comments. (See below for details about written comments.)

All public conferral sessions are for anyone with an interest – not just OVW grantees. Survivors, service providers who are not OVW grant recipients, and other individuals who wish to comment are welcome to join.

Most public conferral sessions will be at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time to enable participation from all states and territories. Each call/webinar will be one hour long. Webinars will be closed-captioned and participants will be able to type comments and questions. Dates are subject to change. OVW will provide notice of any changes on our website. Additional information about format and registration will be available in the coming months.  

Conferral Sessions Open to the Public:

1) Open Forum: Technical Assistance Needs in the Field

March 2016

2) Open Forum: Emerging Issues

April 2016

3) Open Forum: Unmet Needs

May 2016

4) Open Forum: Promising Practices in the Field

June 2016

5) Open Forum: Administration of Grants

September 2016

STOP/SASP Administrator, Coalitions, and TA Providers:

If you are a STOP or SASP State Formula Grant Administrator, a Tribal or State Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalition Director, or an OVW Technical Assistance Provider, you will receive information about in-person and virtual (call/webinar) conferral sessions. You are welcome to attend the public conferral sessions as well.

Written Comments:

Individuals and organizations may submit written comments for each of the topical calls, but comments are limited to two pages. If comments exceed the limit, only the first two pages will be reviewed. Comments can be submitted any time from now until December 31, 2016. If you would like to submit comments, email them to OVW.Director@usdoj.gov. Please put “conferral” in the subject line.

OVW intends to host a thorough conferral process. However, the conferral plan may need to change in response to developing events in the coming months or information gleaned in the initial conferral sessions. Notice of relevant changes will be provided via email and/or OVW’s website.

Not later than 90 days after the conclusion of the conferral period, OVW will publish a report that summarizes the issues presented during conferral and what policies we intend to implement to address those issues.

We are excited to hear from you in the coming months.