OVW FY 2018 Research and Evaluation Initiative | OVW 2018 14240

Opportunity Information: Apply for OVW 2018 14240

The OVW FY 2018 Research and Evaluation Initiative (often referred to as the RampE Initiative) is a discretionary grant program run by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). Its central goal is to build stronger evidence about what actually works to prevent and respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. Rather than focusing on direct service delivery alone, this opportunity emphasizes research and evaluation that can guide real-world practice, help programs improve, and strengthen offender accountability strategies. In practical terms, the grant supports projects that examine current approaches used by communities and OVW/VAWA-funded programs, assess their effectiveness, and generate credible findings that others can use to make better decisions.

A key theme of the initiative is improving the link between research and on-the-ground work. OVW structured RampE to encourage researcher-practitioner partnerships, meaning applicants are expected to connect rigorous research expertise with the lived realities of victim service providers, justice system partners, and other community stakeholders. The idea is that when researchers and practitioners design studies together, the research questions are more relevant, data collection is more feasible, and results are more likely to translate into meaningful program improvements. This also helps communities using VAWA funding align their policies and practices with strategies that have evidence behind them, while still leaving room to test and document innovative or promising new approaches.

Methodologically, the opportunity is broad and flexible, which is important because violence prevention and victim services often occur in complex settings where traditional randomized experiments may be difficult or inappropriate. RampE explicitly supports a wide range of research and evaluation designs, including qualitative studies, mixed-method approaches, and quasi-experimental evaluations. That means projects might involve interviews and focus groups to understand survivor experiences, combined with administrative data analysis to measure outcomes, or comparison-group designs that estimate program impact without full random assignment. The common expectation across methods is that the work is systematic, ethically sound, and capable of producing empirical knowledge that improves responses to these crimes.

In terms of who can apply, eligibility spans several types of organizations and government entities. Eligible applicants include county governments, city or township governments, federally recognized Native American tribal governments, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, and nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status (excluding universities in that nonprofit category, since higher education has its own eligibility listing). This mix reflects OVW's intent to support both academic research capacity and community-based expertise, including jurisdictions and tribal communities that may be implementing or assessing specific interventions within their systems.

The funding instrument is a grant, and it is categorized as discretionary, meaning awards are competitively made based on OVW's selection criteria rather than by formula. The opportunity is listed under CFDA 16.026 and is associated with activity areas including law, justice, and legal services as well as science and technology/research and development. For FY 2018, OVW anticipated making about 7 awards, with an award ceiling of $450,000 per award. The opportunity was posted on January 11, 2018, with an original closing date of March 6, 2018. Overall, the program is aimed at producing actionable findings that strengthen victim services, improve justice and accountability responses, and expand the field's evidence base for both established and emerging strategies.

• The Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women in the law, justice and legal services, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "OVW FY 2018 Research and Evaluation Initiative" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.026.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 11, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 06, 2018. (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 $450,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 7 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for OVW 2018 14240

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