OVW Fiscal Year 2023 STOP Formula Grant Program - Solicitation | O OVW 2023 171624

Opportunity Information: Apply for O OVW 2023 171624

The OVW Fiscal Year 2023 STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program is a Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) funding opportunity that provides formula-based grant support to states to help build and strengthen coordinated community responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Authorized under 34 U.S.C. sections 10441, 10446-10451, and 10454, the program is designed to improve how entire systems respond to these crimes, including law enforcement, prosecution, courts, victim services, and allied partners. The program also explicitly supports efforts that benefit American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages as part of broader community and system responses.

This is a mandatory (formula) grant opportunity under CFDA 16.588 in the Law, Justice, and Legal Services category, administered by the U.S. Department of Justice, OVW. Eligible applicants are state governments (with additional eligibility details referenced in the solicitation). For FY 2023, OVW anticipated making 56 awards, with an award ceiling listed at $17,000,000. The solicitation was created on April 5, 2023, with an original closing date of June 12, 2023. As a formula program, funding amounts and awards generally follow statutory/formula allocations rather than a purely competitive scoring approach, but recipients must still meet planning, certification, and reporting requirements to receive and use funds.

A central emphasis of the STOP Formula Grant Program is strengthening effective, victim-centered, and trauma-informed responses across the justice and service systems. In practical terms, this often means supporting training for officers and prosecutors, improving investigative and prosecution practices, enhancing court responses and victim advocacy, funding direct services and culturally specific services, and promoting coordination among agencies so victims encounter fewer barriers and more consistent safety planning and support. OVW ties program outcomes to its performance measurement framework, including the VAWA Measuring Effectiveness Initiative and program-specific measures described through OVW program materials and OVW reporting to Congress, signaling that recipients are expected to track and report on activities and results in a structured way.

The FY 2023 solicitation highlights several important updates. One of the most notable changes is the expansion of allowable legal assistance within purpose areas five and nine. In addition, representation of victims in post-conviction relief proceedings is now explicitly allowable when the underlying conviction is connected to, or arises from, the domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking experienced by the victim. At the same time, the solicitation draws a firm boundary: criminal defense for victims who are currently charged with crimes remains outside the program scope, meaning STOP funds cannot be used to provide general criminal defense representation even if the defendant is also a victim.

OVW also adds four new purpose areas (21 through 24), each reflecting emerging or under-resourced needs in the field. These new areas include improvements to evidence collection, culturally specific services for victims of female genital mutilation or cutting, support for victim advocates embedded in state or local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors offices, and courts to serve Indian victims, and funding to cover fees for key identity documents such as birth certificates, passports, and identification cards. Taken together, these additions point to an effort to reduce practical obstacles that can keep victims from accessing services, participating safely in the justice system, or stabilizing after harm, while also strengthening investigative capacity and culturally responsive support.

Two new certification requirements are also emphasized in the FY 2023 solicitation. One certification relates to training for victim-centered prosecution, underscoring OVW expectations that prosecution practices incorporate victim safety, autonomy, and trauma-informed approaches. The other certification concerns compliance with applicable conditions of 34 U.S.C. 12291(b), which generally addresses statutory requirements and award conditions tied to VAWA funding. Alongside these changes, states are required to submit an Implementation Plan Amendment. The solicitation directs applicants to the section titled Implementation Plan Update or No Amendments Letter for the specific content requirements, indicating that even formula recipients must formally document how their plans align with new statutory and programmatic requirements before funds can be fully implemented.

Overall, the FY 2023 STOP Formula Grant solicitation is best understood as continued federal investment in statewide infrastructures that respond to violence against women, with targeted updates that broaden certain legal-help uses, add new purpose areas focused on evidence, culturally specific needs, advocacy for Indian victims within justice settings, and practical document-fee support, and increase accountability through new certifications and implementation plan amendments.

• The Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "OVW Fiscal Year 2023 STOP Formula Grant Program - Solicitation" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.588.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 05, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 12, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $17,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 56 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O OVW 2023 171624

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