The Domestic Violence High Risk Team Model Training and Technical Assistance Project will provide training and technical assistance on the implementation of the Domestic Violence High Risk Team Model. Specifically, the project will: 1) conduct a series of 3-4 webinars to increase awareness about the research on risk assessment, lethality factors, and the Domestic Violence High Risk Team Model; 2) improve the multi-disciplinary approach in the identification of and response to victims who are at high risk of domestic violence related homicide and/or re-assault; 3) disseminate a toolkit that communities can use to assess their readiness to implement a Domestic Violence High Risk Team; 4) provide customized technical assistance to 9-10 communities committed to forming Domestic Violence High Risk Teams; 5) conduct community meetings either by video conferencing, webinar, or in-person to build a consensus on policy development, the timeline and implementation plan, and the training plan among all partners; and 6) develop customized training materials and provide on-site customized training to law enforcement, prosecution, victim advocates, and other partners.

The National Crime Victim Law Institute (NCVLI) is launching its Victims’ Rights Litigation Project’s (Project) goal is to ensure that victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and dating violence have agency and voice during the criminal justice process to reduce re-victimization. The objectives necessary to reach this goal are two-fold: enhance the competencies of attorneys working with these populations by providing them with tools and developing their skills in victims’ rights assertion and enforcement in criminal cases; and provide expert legal technical assistance to these legal service providers to further the development of their newly acquired skills. The Project will achieve its goal and objectives through these activities: 1) creation of an online, interactive toolkit of “how to” assert rights in criminal courts; 2) web-based trial advocacy and litigation trainings on emerging issues; 3) intensive case technical assistance; 4) Legal Bulletins, which are short newsletters on key litigation/practice topics; and 5) continuation of NCVLI’s Violence Against Women E-Digest, which is a regular e-blast disseminating the latest legal information impacting the field.

The National Indigenous Women's Resource Center (NIWRC) provides targeted technical assistance to the grantees of the Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalition Grant Program (TDVSAC). This technical assistance project will help TDVSAC develop capacity building strategies for tribal communities and support innovative approaches and procedures for establishing victim centered services for their respective member tribes. The purpose of the proposed project is to provide direct assistance to grantees to build their capacity to enhance the success of the projects they are implementing with Violence Against Women Act grant funds.

The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) and the Women’s Law Project (WLP) are partnering for a national, 36-month project to provide technical assistance to Stop Violence Against Women (“STOP”) Program grantees and other law enforcement agencies, in developing and implementing comprehensive policies, procedures, practices, and services that will improve their overall handling of sexual assault cases. To address these issues, PERF and WLP are beginning a 3-year initiative to develop comprehensive performance measures and internal guidelines and quality assurance (QA) mechanisms so police agencies will be able to recognize and ameliorate weaknesses in investigations and improve the overall response to victims of sexual assault. This project also will provide national, “real-time” information on the development of these guidelines. And it will provide information and assistance to STOP grantees and other local law enforcement agencies as they work to implement the new UCR definition of sexual assaults announced by Attorney General Eric Holder in January 2012. To accomplish this, PERF and WLP (the project team) will establish a National Advisory Board of police practitioners and other experts, who will define what constitutes a “successful” police response to sexual assaults, and will develop performance measures to help agencies implement such a response. In the first project year, the Board and project team will develop quality assurance mechanisms for supervisors and others to ensure that the measures that are adopted are adhered to, allowing agencies to assess whether the guidelines had the desired effects. The Board will discuss challenges in improving sexual assault investigations, and will work collaboratively with the project team to define these guidelines, with the understanding that they must be practical and adaptable for agencies of all sizes and types. In year 2, the project team will “road test” the guidelines in four jurisdictions. The team will assist each site in adapting and implementing the guidelines, collecting data, making mid-course adjustments to strategy, and providing other technical assistance as needed. The team will work with each test site to document the process, including obstacles encountered, required changes to other policies or practice, improvements in police responses to sexual assault, lessons learned, and overall outcomes. The project team will establish a website and other information-sharing mechanisms to share the progress and lessons learned from the test sites in real-time, for the purpose of speeding up the adoption of promising practices and dissemination of information on obstacles and how they may be addressed. The proposed project’s efforts will culminate in a National Summit in year 3, with participation by all of the individuals and organizations involved in this project. During this Summit, stakeholders from each test site will share their challenges, the guidelines they implemented, and the results realized. PERF will facilitate discussion of the lessons learned, key considerations, best practices, and next steps to move the field forward. From the summit, PERF and WLP will produce a national comprehensive guidebook outlining the issues, refined guidelines, outcomes and best practices identified during the project period. The guidebook will be designed as a standalone instructional document; however, other technical assistance and dissemination methods, such as webinars, conference calls and presentations may be used to ensure that the approach is adopted by as many STOP grantees and law enforcement agencies as possible nationwide.