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OCVS Grants and Training Updates Bulletin #18
August 2022
Table of Contents
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OCVS Grants and Training Programs
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Amanda Powers is the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) & Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Administrator Program and Policy Analyst at the Office of Crime Victim Services (OCVS) since June of this year. Prior to her new role in OCVS, Amanda has served as the OCVS Grant Specialist – VOCA Lead since 2016 and VOCA Administrator since 2013. She’s been with OCVS for 10 ½ years, all of which have been spent working with and supporting victim services agencies in administering their VOCA subgrants. She graduated from Carthage College with a BA in History and Spanish. During her time at Carthage, she spent a semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina studying the Methodology of Genocide and interning at AMIA an Argentinean Jewish community organization. Outside of her OCVS work, Amanda enjoys reading, gardening, hiking, and spending time with her family. |
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Lynn Cook, MSW, CAPSW received her MSW at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 2008. Lynn recently began working at the Department of Justice Office of Crime Victim Services as the Children’s Justice Act Program and Policy Analyst where she is responsible for implementing statewide initiatives that improve the investigation and prosecution of child abuse. Prior to this position, Lynn worked as a Forensic Interviewer at the Milwaukee Child Advocacy Center of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. She began her work in that capacity in July of 2015 and has conducted well over 2,000 forensic interviews of children and teens who have experienced or witnessed violence and child maltreatment. In addition to her role as a contributor to the Wisconsin Forensic Interview Guidelines curriculum and faculty member for statewide training, Lynn conducts many other statewide and national trainings in areas specific to child abuse dynamics. She is often called to testify as an expert witness in criminal trials in Milwaukee County and across the state.
Prior to her work with Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Lynn worked for over seven years as a Sensitive Crimes Victim Advocate in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office. There she worked on hundreds of child sexual abuse from charging through sentencing. She has also worked in the areas of child welfare and primary prevention education, and has instructed a course at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee on Criminal Violence. Lynn is a member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children and has a Certificate in Trauma Counseling.
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Deanna Grundl, BSN, RN,SANE-A is the Track-Kit Policy & Program Analyst at the Office of Crime Victim Services (OCVS). Deanna comes to OCVS with nearly 15 years of sexual assault/forensic nurse examiner experience and is highly skilled in training and mentorship for SANE nurses across the state. Deanna is Aurora Health Care’s Sexual Assault/Forensic Nurse Examiner Program Coordinator and has practiced as a nurse since 2008. During her time with Aurora, she provided sexual assault/forensic nurse examiner coordination for several sites including Sheboygan, Summit, Manitowoc County, and Washington County. Deanna is an active member of the AG SART and was integral in Track-Kit legislation success. |
Crime Victim Compensation - Better help for Spanish Speakers!
Sandra Garduno - Bilingual/Spanish CVC Claim Specialist
Sandra has ten years of experience working in case management. Her most recent work was with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office as a Victim Witness Advocate. During this time, she had the opportunity to work with individuals from different social and cultural backgrounds. Sandra is excited to join the DOJ department and looking forward to learning and growing with the CVC team.
Eric Holz - Bilingual/Spanish CVC Claim Specialist
Eric is from Wisconsin and graduated from UW Madison. He has lived in Madrid, Spain for 4 years. Eric previously worked at OCI investigating consumer complaints mainly about life insurance and annuities. He likes biking and live theater. Eric is a cat dad, but also like dogs and other animals. He's a coffee snob, and likes tea also, you might find him brewing it and sharing especially in cold months. Eric likes warm weather and summer, if it wasn’t dangerous for a redhead he’d be in the sun a whole lot more. Happy to be joining the CVC crew!
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Following the passage of the VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act of 2021 (VOCA Fix), OCVS implemented the mandatory match waiver for all unmet match for VOCA subrecipient agencies outlined in the VOCA Fix. The VOCA Fix, section 3(b), states the following: “Beginning on the date a national emergency is declared under the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.) with respect to a pandemic and ending on the date that is one year after the date of the end of such national emergency, SAAs shall issue waivers for any matching requirement, in its entirety, for all eligible crime victim assistance programs contracted to provide services at that time.” 34 U.S.C. 20103(a)(8)
As a reminder, this match waiver eliminates the burden of unmet match for subrecipient agencies for the current and upcoming VOCA grant project periods (October 1, 2021 – September 30, 2022, and October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023). Match included on a submitted fiscal report may be subject to audit and, as match is mandatorily waived, will therefore be deleted by OCVS.
Please note that this waiver solely applies during a national emergency and for one year after the date of the end of such national emergency. The elimination of the VOCA match requirement does not increase the overall federal award. Please reach out to your grant manager or financial grants specialist with additional questions.
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Remember, SAM is always FREE! Look for the Uncle SAM.gov hat!
- Unique Entity Identification is now used in place of DUNS Numbers
- Please be sure to enter your UEI Number and CAGE Code Number on the Main Summary Page of the Egrants Application.
- Renewal is YEARLY and an ACTIVE SAM is required to receive Federal Funds, and to be reimbursed by WI DOJ.
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OCVS is seeking external grant reviewers to assist in the upcoming Sexual Assault Victim Services (SAVS) and Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) competitive grant application review.
External reviewers will be required to attend a 1-hour information session detailing the process, read and score grant applications, and meet virtually with the external review team to further evaluate the grant applications.
OCVS may compensate external reviewers for their time at the pre-determined rate of $30 per hour, for a maximum of 15 hours, dependent upon the number of applications received.
Additional information will be provided throughout the process.
If you would like to learn more about the application process or have additional questions, please contact Leah Varnadoe at varnadoela@doj.state.wi.us.
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*also known as the OCVS Online Curriculum
Next Training Date: November 18
The prerequisite to attend this training is to watch the following pre-recorded training videos: History of Crime Victim Rights in Wisconsin, Enforcement of Crime Victim Rights in Wisconsin, Crime Victim Compensation and The SAFE Fund, and complete a brief post-test to confirm your knowledge of the material. These videos provide introductory material that sets the foundation to attend the virtual Introductory Training for Victim Service Providers. The training videos and post-test can be found online click here.
For those wishing to receive participation credit for VOCA, SAVS, and VAWA grant requirements, please complete this post-test after watching all segments of the curriculum.
A certificate of completion will be emailed to you within 2 weeks of finishing the post-test.
Please contact Kay Ragland with any questions or concerns about the certificate.
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Safe at Home, Wisconsin’s address confidentiality program, relies on designated Application Assistants to assist applicants with the safety planning they are required to do before enrolling in Safe at Home. In order to increase victims’ access to the Safe at Home program statewide, we are always looking for more people to complete the training necessary to become a dedicated Application Assistant. Application Assistants can be from state or local agencies that provide counseling, assistance, or support services to victims, or can be employees or volunteers for organizations that provide counseling, assistance, or support services free of charge to victims. Training consists of reviewing three pre-recorded videos that total about an hour in length and completing a registration form. Individuals interested in completing training can send an email to safeathome@doj.state.wi.us or call the Safe at Home program at 608-266-6613.
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VOCA - Fourth Quarter Final Reports due October 30, 2022
1. Fourth Quarter OVC PMT Report
- If you never had a password and need one, please call Mary Colletti or Michelle Bailey
- You will need to enter your OVCPMT report, or Performance Measures data directly into the OVC PMT website.
- BUT, if you are having trouble signing onto the OVCPMT website, please go to the OVCPMT website to view the login instructions.
- You can also find this information on the VOCA website
2. Final Program Report in Egrants
- Done in Egrants – For Directions See attachment How to Submit a Final Report in Egrants.
3. Final FSR in Egrants
**The timeframe for the Fourth Quarter/Final Reports = July 1, 2022, through September 30, 2022.
If you have any questions, or need more help, please contact Mary Colletti.
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Mary A. Colletti | Grants Specialist
State of Wisconsin Department of Justice
Office of Crime Victim Services
collettima@doj.state.wi.us
Phone: (920) 650-1565
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