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Expanding Legal Services Initiative Fact Sheet

The Legal Assistance for Victims (LAV) Program Expanding Legal Services Initiative (ELSI) is intended to enable eligible organizations that do not currently offer legal services to establish a program that provides legal representation to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking.

Eligible Applicants to ELSI are non-profit organizations and Tribal governments or Tribal organizations with a mission or purpose of providing direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking that do not currently offer legal representation to victims provided by an attorney employee, but want to establish a program to provide comprehensive legal assistance to victims.

Sexual Assault Statutory Funding Priority

Survivors of sexual assault often have limited access to legal services and face unique challenges as they heal from trauma. To address this need, OVW may give special consideration to ELSI applicants proposing to focus:

  • more than 50 percent of grant-funded activities on direct legal services for victims of intimate partner and non-intimate partner sexual assault; or
  • all grant-funded activities on sexual assault with the 80% of activities supporting direct legal services for victims of non-intimate partner sexual assault.

The LAV Program strengthens civil and criminal legal assistance programs for adult and youth victims (ages 11 and older) of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking who are seeking relief in legal matters relating to or arising out of that abuse or violence.

This program is authorized by 34 U.S.C. § 20121.

Apply for this grant

Updated April 8, 2026