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STOP formula funds support funding to hire and retain criminal justice and victim services personnel, as well to support other strategies that create and preserve jobs and promote economic growth while improving responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The total funding for STOP grants is $145,626,000.

This program funds three types of statewide coalitions: sexual assault, domestic violence and dual. Statewide sexual assault coalitions provide direct support to member rape crisis centers through funding, training and technical assistance, public awareness activities, and public policy advocacy. The total amount of funding under this program is $8,750,000.

These grants support programs that provide assistance to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking who are in need of transitional housing, short-term housing assistance, and related support services. Total funding is $44,500,000 including $1,500, in cooperative agreements for technical assistance.

These grants support a broad spectrum of activities intended to strengthen the capacity of Indian tribes to respond to violence against Indian women, including providing services to victims and ensuring offender accountability. The grants will help grantees to hire new personnel, develop databases, renovate of housing, and help victims achieve economic independence. Total funding for this program is $22,500,000 including $1,800,000 in cooperative agreement(s) for technical assistance.

These grants support increasing awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault against American Indian and Alaska Native women and provide technical assistance to coalition membership and tribal communities for essential services for American Indian women victimized by domestic and sexual violence. Total funding for these grants is $2,874,000, including $250,000 in cooperative agreement(s) for technical assistance.

An assessment will be conducted for all Recovery Act grantees. The potential risk of each grantee is calculated based on an assigned point value for each risk factor. Based on a cumulative rating, grantees are given a monitoring priority of low, medium, or high. In the application review process, grantees who receive a high rating may be ineligible to receive an award or may receive special conditions on the award as well as be identified for a higher level of monitoring. OVW will conduct an on-site visit of those grantees deemed high risk.

OVW requires discretionary grantees to submit semi-annual program progress reports. STOP Formula Grant Program recipients and sub-grantees submit annual progress reports. These reports include details on the use of the funds by the grantee and are reviewed by program managers to ensure compliance with program requirements.
In addition, all grantees submit quarterly financial reports, which are reviewed by the Office of Justice Programs, Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

Currently the Office of Justice Programs, Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), conducts reviews of the grantee’s use of funds via quarterly financial reports and audits conducted on-site. OVW works in collaboration with OCFO when programmatic monitoring raises concerns about grantees use of funds to determine an action plan.

In addition, OVW plans to provide on-site monitoring to at least 10% of all Recovery Act grantees. As well as conducts one on one interaction and monitoring of grantees at technical assistance meetings and Grant program conferences.

OVW utilizes its programmatic tools such as financial status reports, progress reports and grant change requests (budget modifications and no cost extensions), product and training approval requests to ensure that grant funds are being expended based on the grant program requirements. These tools when use effectively can highlight potential misuse of funds and will trigger additional action if needed.

Without regard to the Recovery Act, grantees of OVW’s discretionary grant programs submit detailed semi-annual progress reports, and grantees and sub-grantees of OVW’s STOP Formula Program submit detailed annual progress reports. Grantees submit their reports through the Office of Justice Program’s (OJP) Grants Management System (GMS). STOP Program grantees submit their sub-grantees’ annual reports directly to OVW by email or CD-Rom. After review and approval of grantee reports, OVW transmits this data, as well as subgrantee data, to the Muskie School of Public Service’s Catherine E. Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy (the Muskie School) for further review and analysis. The Muskie School develops 6-month reports with aggregate data for each OVW discretionary program and assists OVW in drafting biennial Reports to Congress regarding all OVW programs, including the STOP Formula Grant Program.

Program Costs: OVW records financial transactions through the Department’s Financial Management Information System (FMIS). OVW is responsible for entering grant commitments in FMIS’s grant module; OJP enters OVW grantee obligations in FMIS.

As noted above, the Muskie School develops 6-month reports, which are available on the Muskie School’s website at http://muskie.usm.maine.edu/vawamei/summaryreports.htm. OVW’s Reports to Congress are available on OVW’s website at http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/reports-congress.htm and on the Muskie School’s website at http://muskie.usm.maine.edu/vawamei/ovwrptcongress.htm.

In both the 6-month summary reports and the Reports to Congress, OVW provides data aggregated on the program level. As a general rule, OVW does not make publicly available disaggregated grantee performance information. OVW will release individual grantee reports in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, once those reports have been carefully reviewed to redact any confidential or victim-identifying information.

OVW has a Categorical Exclusion to NEPA under Appendix D to 28 CFR Part 61, for “minor renovation projects” which do not “change the basic prior use of a facility or significantly change the size.” However, this grant program does not allow any renovations or construction so Environmental Review Compliance is not applicable for those programs.