Washington State VOCA Plan Extended
OCVA serves as the administrator of federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Assistance funds. These funds support direct victim services all across our state. Early in 2015, a congressional change resulted in a significant increase in Washington state’s award, meaning more funding for services in our local communities.
In 2015, a statewide planning process was used to guide the development of the 2015-2019 VOCA State Plan (PDF) and formulate recommendations to guide the use of the increased VOCA funds through 2019.
This initial statewide planning process included opportunities for input from crime victims, victim service providers, law enforcement, the courts and other interested parties. The process included a series of in-person discussions and an online survey. While commenters offered differing perspectives, the input process offered us a substantial consensus on key unmet needs of victims and survivors, as well as major challenges confronting service providers.
OCVA has been reviewing the plan’s progress to date and analyzing data collected, and came to the conclusion that continuing the original 2015-2019 VOCA Plan would be most beneficial.
An extension of the original VOCA funding distribution plan will allow:
- Newly funded programs to fully implement their proposals.
- An additional round of applications for our new competitive initiatives.
- Sufficient time for a more comprehensive look at whether the plan resulted in filling of the gaps identified in the initial needs assessment conducted prior to the publication of the original VOCA Plan.
In 2018, OCVA conducted a survey and an in person statewide stakeholder meeting to solicit input on the continuation of the VOCA Plan. This process affirmed that the priorities identified in the 2015-2019 VOCA planning process should be extended through 2023.
OCVA encourages providers to regularly check the Grants and Funding page to stay up to date on the available VOCA funding opportunities. We anticipate many of the grant applications will be released in late winter / early spring.
For more on VOCA, please check out the VOCA Information page.