Dear USET/USET SPF Family,
As reminder, please be advised that today, Thursday, August 5th, at 11:59 pm ET is the comment deadline for providing guidance to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) on the disposition of unclaimed funding under the Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside Program (“TVSSA program”) for Fiscal Year 2021. Out of the $100.75 million set aside for Tribal Nations under the program, as much as $15 million may be unclaimed by Tribal Nations included in the distribution formula for FY 2021. Because DOJ is statutorily required to obligate funding by September 30, 2021 (or return it to the CVF), it is seeking comment from Tribal Nations on the following questions:
1. How should OVC distribute the remaining FY 2021 TVSSA formula funds? For example:
- OVC could increase the formula amount awarded to all Tribal Nations which submitted an application before July 14 (estimated to be between 125-140 Tribal Nations). (E.g., divide remaining formula funds by the number of Tribal Nations with applications in the system and award each Tribe the same amount in addition to their previous formula allocation.)
- OVC could calculate a population-based supplement for all participating Tribal Nations (estimated to be between 125-140 Tribes). (E.g., each Tribal Nation with an application in JustGrants would receive an additional amount proportional to the population on the Tribal Nation's population certification.)
- OVC could fund applications from Tribal Nations that come in under other OVC programs: e.g. Human Trafficking, Elder Abuse, etc. These programs are competitive programs, but OVC could make funds available to Tribal Nations which submitted applications for these programs which received acceptable peer review scores so that Tribal Nations are not competing with non-Tribal entities under these programs.
2. Should OVC handle left over TVSSA Set-Aside funds the same way every year?
Written comments should be directed to ovctribalsetaside@ojp.usdoj.gov by 11:59 pm ET tonight, August 5th. Additional details and background on the issue can be found in DOJ's "Dear Tribal Leader" letter and framing paper.
For more information, please contact Liz Malerba, USET SPF Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, at lmalerba@usetinc.org.
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