The Vision 21 program will support law enforcement agencies, crime victims, and communities by developing, implementing, and assessing evidence-based and trauma-informed law enforcement response strategies, protocols, and interventions that promote community engagement and healing prior to and in the wake of law enforcement-involved shootings and other high-profile incidents of violence (including those featuring differences in race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or immigration status), whether the victim of the incident is a member of the community or an officer. Additionally, this program will provide comprehensive, expert technical assistance to law enforcement and the communities they serve to promote trauma-informed culture and practice to address the impact of trauma and community harm. This solicitation aims to help communities develop a preventative and remediative focus that will address the needs of those directly impacted by high-profile incidents, reduce tensions, maximize communication, and promote problem solving between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
The goals of this program are to:
- Assist law enforcement in developing, implementing, and assessing comprehensive evidence-based, trauma-informed, response strategies, protocols, and interventions for law enforcement agencies that promote community engagement and healing prior to and in the wake of law enforcement-involved shootings and other high-profile incidents of violence; and
- Develop and disseminate comprehensive, expert technical assistance resources to law enforcement on trauma-informed culture and practice, to improve an agency's internal capacity to understand and process the impact of vicarious trauma and community harm.
OVC proposes to fund one organization that that will competitively select, provide oversight to, and manage awards for a minimum of six law enforcement agency demonstration sites (small, medium, and large populations, as defined by the applicant) for 3 years to plan, implement, and assess trauma-informed culture and practice for addressing individual, familial, and community harm that will promote and enhance a healing process in the aftermath of law-enforcement involved shootings, deaths, and other high-profile incidents. OVC anticipates that the successful applicant will select the law enforcement demonstration sites no later than 9 months after OJP makes the award and provides final financial clearance. OVC also envisions that the overall strategy will include a plan for building strong partnership across disciplines, including:
- Victim advocates and victim assistance professionals located within law enforcement departments, prosecutors' offices, and the community;
- Prosecutors;
- Medical and mental health professionals, hospitals, community-based public health practitioners, and trauma centers;
- Child protective services and child- and youth-serving organizations;
- Medical examiners and coroner's offices;
- Community activists and advocates, and other survivor and racial justice or other groups that address the needs of populations that may have historically strained relationships with law enforcement.
- Faith-based and community organizations;
- Civic groups;
- The education system;
- The juvenile justice system;
- Community-based violence reduction and prevention initiatives; and
- Local media
The successful applicant will also plan to dedicate to providing comprehensive training and technical assistance to the demonstration sites. At a minimum, the successful applicant will conduct the following activities:
- Assist each demonstration site with developing a comprehensive needs assessment of the agency's culture and practice related to both primary and secondary trauma, and the actual or potential scope and nature of high-profile, law enforcement-involved shootings and other crisis incidents in the community;
- Assist each demonstration site with conducting an assessment of gaps in trauma-informed services and interventions for those impacted by these incidents, including law enforcement, families, and the community at large; and the disconnects that may exist between the law enforcement agency and various sectors of the population residing in the community;
- Assist each demonstration site with refining and enhancing a strategy to address issues identified in the needs assessment that will, at a minimum, increase the law enforcement agency's understanding and integration of trauma-informed culture, institutionalize that strategy, strengthen engagement with the community, and increase transparency in communications and identification of trauma-informed interventions for law enforcement, victims, other individuals and the community at large;
- Establish baseline data for performance metrics and a data collection process to support an assessment of this initiative at the community level;
- Use, to the greatest extent possible, training and technical resources available from OVC, OJP, and other federal agencies to support the strategies;
- Facilitate routine peer-to peer consultation and networking opportunities among the demonstration sites to promote problem solving and innovation;
- Convene in-person grantee meetings to support this initiative;
- Assist each demonstration site with compiling all final drafts of policies, resources, training materials, and other resources developed under this initiative;
- Develop a resource guide or compendium of resources that would be helpful in replicating the promising practices identified from each site, such as descriptions of evidence-based practices used, written protocols, outreach materials, training materials, sample MOUs, and sample intake forms;
- Compile a report of promising practices identified through the initiative;
- Develop and implement a publishing, marketing, and dissemination plan for deliverables associated with this project; and
- Work with an external OVC-funded evaluator, if OVC decides to fund a formal evaluation of the demonstration site and the training and technical assistance of the technical assistance provider in FY 2017.
In addition to the selecting and providing oversight of and technical assistance to the demonstration sites, the successful applicant must dedicate money towards assisting law enforcement agencies and members of other non-grant-funded communities with planning for a rapid response in the aftermath of a high-profile law enforcement-involved incident. The successful applicant should outline how it will deploy a problem-solving technical assistance team to work with communities to shape their responses. OVC expects the grantee to identify potential consultants with expertise and credibility in law enforcement, victim assistance, mental health, community- and coalition-building, and other key areas, as part of the application.