Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Request for Continuation Proposal (RFCP) Instructions ~ FY15 VOCA ADULT SERVICES

PROPOSAL
DUE DATE AND TIME
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 – 4:00pm CST
Email one copy of the complete proposal to
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WEBINARS
Your agency is required to participate in
one of the following technical assistance webinars. Registration emails were sent on Thursday, January 30, 2014. Please contact if you need the registration links.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014 from 1:00 pm to 3:00pm
Wednesday, March 12, 2014 from 10:00 am to 12:00pm
Friday, March 14, 2014 from 10:00 am to 12:00pm
Monday, March 17, 2014 from 2:00 pm to 4:00pm

GENERAL INFORMATION

Eligible Programs

Funded Services Components of This Project

Limitations on Funded Services

Allowable Costs

Donor Match Requirements

Reporting Requirements

Other Requirements

PROPOSAL CONTENT CHECKLIST AND INSTRUCTIONS

Cover Page, Certification Forms, and General Agency Description Table

Proposal Narrative

1. SUMMARY OF PROJECT

2. REVIEW OF PROGRESS MADE

3. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

4. PROJECT RESPONSE

5. EVALUATION

Budget Detail and Budget Narrative

Job Description

REVIEW CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES

For Further Information

GENERAL INFORMATION

Proposals must be submitted via e-mail and received no later than Tuesday, April 15, 2014 – 4:00pm CST. ICADV Policies and Procedures for Grant Administration state that, “Programs submitting applications up to 48 hours late will be fined $500. Applications received in the ICADV office 48 hours after the deadline will not be accepted”. Proposals that do not meet the assurances or do not follow the directions will not be read.

The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (the Authority) has entered into contractual agreements with ICADV to administer funds for various services to domestic violence victims—since FY85 for Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Adult Advocacy Services.

These funds are a portion of a federal grant awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime of the U.S. Department of Justice to the Authority for direct client services to crime victims. Contracts resulting from this Request for Continuation Proposal (RFCP) are subject to laws, regulations and guidelines applicable to the VOCA program.

Your agency’s TOTAL VOCA FY15 request for funds should not exceed your agency’s TOTAL FY14VOCA award, under agreement 213001. The FY14 total includes funds awarded to you for any of the following: VOCA Adult, VOCA Child and VOCA Child Therapy services. Child Services may be requested under a separate RFCP. You may proportion ADULT and CHILD services requests for funds at any ratio that best suits the service needs in your area, as long as the combined amount you request for Adult, Child and Child Therapy Reimbursement Services does not exceed your FY14 VOCA award from ICADV under agreement 213001.

Grant awards for FY15 are contingent upon ICADV receiving VOCA monies from the Authority, the amount of VOCA money available, and the number of requests that are funded. The FY15 grant is a twelve-month grant, beginning July 1, 2014 and ending June 30, 2015. This grant may be renewed for up to one (1) additional year (through FY16). Future funding depends upon satisfactory program performance and the availability of funds.

Eligible Programs

Programs in good standing that are currently receiving funds from ICADV are eligible for funding. Funded programs are considered in good standing if they meet the deadline for proposal submission, they submit reports on time, they accomplish their goals, objectives, and service projections, and they fulfill all other contractual obligations and assurances.

All programs must meet the assurances and VOCA eligibility requirements. These forms have been forwarded electronically with this RFCP to your program for signature. A current, signed, hard copy of these certifications and assurances must be on file in the ICADV office before a program is considered eligible for funding.

To be eligible for funding, your agency must have a representative participate in one of the technical assistance webinars scheduled by ICADV. Dates and times of these calls may be found on page 1 of these instructions. Webinar registration emails were sent to programs on Thursday, January 30, 2014. Please contact if you need that email sent to you.

Funded Services Components of This Project

The purposes of VOCA Adult funds are to help domestic violence victims have full access to the criminal justice system resources in their communities and remedies available to them under the IDVA; as well as to help domestic violence victims receive medical assistance, principally through the provision of on-site or on-call services to domestic violence victims at hospitals or clinics. Service examples of these purposes include: educating victims about the IDVA and Orders of Protection, assisting victims in court with their Orders of Protection, assisting victims in their interactions with police, state’s attorneys, judges, clerks and other court personnel, and intervening on a victim’s behalf with these parties. In addition, services include follow-up with clients after Emergency Orders to make it as easy as possible for victims to pursue and obtain Plenary Orders and seeking enforcement of Orders of Protection.

Limitations on Funded Services

  1. VOCA funds are to be used to provide direct services to crime victims. However, some time may be spent on presentations to outside agencies, as long as those presentations clearly fall within these guidelines:
  • VOCA or match funded staff time, not to exceed an average of 4 hours per month (based on a full time position fully funded by the project), may be used to provide public presentations to community groups and schools, provided the primary purpose of the presentation is to inform people about the VOCA funded project and available services.
  • VOCA or match funded staff time, not to exceed an average of 10 hours per month (based on a full time position fully funded by the project),may be used to provide public presentations to criminal justice personnel and medical service providers, provided the primary purpose of the presentation is to inform people about the VOCA funded project and available services.
  1. While VOCA funds are for direct services to crime victims, a small amount of supervision time is allowable. A maximum of 10% of your specific VOCA grant (VOCA Adult, VOCA Child, VOCA Child Therapy Reimbursement) plusMatch dollars for that grant is allowed for supervising a VOCA funded staff person or volunteer.
  1. The following activities are NOT SUPPORTED AT ANY LEVEL by VOCA funds (DO NOT REFERENCE ANY OFTHESE SERVICES IN YOUR PROPOSAL FOR USE OF VOCA FUNDS):
  • Coordination of services (unless on behalf of a specific client).
  • Networking
  • Development of protocols, interagency agreements, and other working agreements.
  • System (institutional) advocacy (advocacy that is not on behalf of a specific client), and lobbying.

Allowable Costs

VOCA funds may not be used to supplant existing resources. Allowable costs are those that are directly related to providing direct services, such as staff salaries and benefits. Other allowable project costs are those that are necessary and essential to providing direct services, includingtransportation costs, pro-rated rent and telephone expenses.

VOCA funds may not be used for administrative expenses, with the exception of audit costs. Up to 2% of the VOCA award may be used for audit costs as provided by federal guidelines. These funds may only support audit costs if your agency receives more than $500,000 in federal funds and is required to complete an A-133 Circular Audit.

Donor Match Requirements

A matching contribution of 20% (cash or in-kind) of the total cost of the VOCA Adult Services is required and must be derived from non-federal sources. For every $4 in VOCA funds, you must provide $1 in match funds from non-federal sources. (The total cost is the VOCA allocation plus non-federal match, e.g. $50,000 VOCA + $12,500 match = $62,500.) Match funds are restricted to the same uses as the VOCA funds, must be related to the funded project, and must be expended within the grant period.

Reporting Requirements

Programs will be required to use the ICJIA data collection system for all data reporting. Programs must also submit monthly financial reports. Please refer to the ICADV Policies and Procedures for Grant Administration for policies related to late data and fiscal reports.

If turnover in a VOCA designated position occurs, the program must provide to ICADV, as part of the financial reporting form for the VOCA project, an explanation of how service is being provided. If the position is not filled within 75 days, a written justification for continued funding must be submitted to the ICADV office.

Other Requirements

Grantees must provide assurances that the project will have a designated adult services position(s) on staff to provide the funded services. It is expected that services will be provided over a 12-month period with funds from this grant. Programs must also agree to participate in any project evaluation sponsored by ICADV or ICJIA.

PROPOSAL CONTENT CHECKLIST AND INSTRUCTIONS

To be accepted for consideration, proposals must meet the requirements set forth in this RFCP.
Applicants must submit one (1) copy of the proposal via e-mail by the indicated due date. Proposal format must include the following in the order indicated.
Use the following check lists to outline your proposal. This will ensure that you are including all required components in your proposal.
Points will be deducted for missing information.
SECTION I

Cover Page, Certification Forms, and General Agency Description Table

 / Cover Page (attached);
 / Board Authorization Form;
 / ICADV Assurances/Agreements;
 / VOCA Eligibility Requirements;
 / State of Illinois Drug Free Workplace Act;
 / Federal Debarment Certification;
 / Illinois Debarment Certification;
 / Equal Employment Opportunity Plan Certification;
 / Civil Rights Compliance Certification;
 / Faith Based Organization Self Report;
 / Victim Compensation Awareness Certification;
 / Table: General Description Of Service Area/Agency (attached).
*These forms have been forwarded electronically with this RFCP to your program for signature. An original, signed, hard copy of each of these forms must be received in the ICADV office no later than Tuesday, April 15, 2014for this proposal to be considered complete.
SECTION II

Proposal Narrative

1. SUMMARY OF PROJECT
Provide a brief summary of your agency’s Adult Service Program that includes a summary of all of the Adult Services provided in the agency. This question refers to your agency as a whole, not your funded program.
Provide asummary description of yourfundedAdult Services programand what it seeks to achieve.
Tell us what staff position(s) and volunteer(s) will be supported by the grant.
Tell us the hours of operation for the VOCA Adult Services.
Tell us where the funded services will be provided.
2. REVIEW OF PROGRESS MADE
Progress on your Service Objectives for July through December will be included Section II Proposal Narrative, #4 Project Response, Service Objective Tables, Review of Progress Made columns so that readers have a clear picture of what you have accomplished thus far in FY14 and what you plan to accomplish in FY15—side by side in the tables. However, you should also provide a brief general narrative describing accomplishments of the funded program, types of service provided, etc. This narrative will help put the measurable service objective accomplishments into context for the reader.
Provide a summary of your agency’s current progress thefunded program’s Outcome Objective for FY14.
  • What are your accomplishments inthe funded program’s Outcome Objective in July through December of this fiscal year?
  • State the Outcome Objective; description of how your agency is collecting information to measure progress on this Outcome Objective; and state the current progress on this Outcome Objective in July through December of the fiscal year.
If you are NOT meeting your Service and/or Outcome objective(s), how are you addressing this? If you have revised your original objectives, please explain why.
Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the funded program. Share information about the funded program’s successes or outstanding accomplishments. Also describe the program’s challenges or areas of potential improvement. Please address your program’s weaknesses as opposed to outside weaknesses such as funding, challenging judges, etc… Answers including references to funding issues will lose points.
Explain how the funded program will address any weaknesses during the upcoming grant period.
If appropriate, briefly describe other recent accomplishments of your organization in the area of Adult Services that may not have been directly supported by the funded program. For example, “Our director helped the Sheriff’s Department revise its domestic violence training materials.”
3. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Describe the Adult Services problems faced by victims of domestic violence in your service area. This should support your argument of why your agency needs this continued funding.
  • Identify the specific types of problems faced by victims in your service area.
  • Include data and other information that substantiate the existence of the problem(s).
  • Include data and other information that justify the need for continued funding of these services.

4. PROJECT RESPONSE
Explain how the funded program will reduce or eliminate the problems(s) you listed in the Statement of Problem section.
  • Be sure to specifically address how the program will reduce the problems.
  • Problems addressed here must be the same problems addressed in the previous section.
Explain what the funded position(s) will do to reach the service objectivesthat you entered in the Direct Client Services table. Clearly describe both the day to day activities and any special projects of the funded position(s). Also inform the reader about how you reach the population(s) you want to serve, and provide examples of the types of interventions you make that benefit the survivor.
  • Be sure to specify the position completing these day to day activities and special projects so the reader fully understands the separation of the types of services.
Describe your plans for community presentations, if applicable and funded by the VOCA program. What organizations will you target and why did you select them? This information should correspond to the objectives you entered in the Community Presentations table.
Describe how this VOCA-funded program fits into your larger Adult Services program within your agency. Include an explanation of how the program servicescomplement one another to meet the needs of families your agency is serving.
Describe your program’s working relationship with other providers or groups: (e.g.local law enforcement, legal aid, state’s attorney, court personnel, community leaders, etc.).
Complete the Service Objectives Tables (Direct Client Services Table and, if applicable, the Orders of Protection Table, and the Community Presentations Table.). These are your annual objectives for clients served, service hours, orders of protection and presentations.
  • Review of Progress Made Columns: The tables request information about your accomplishments in the first six months of FY14. These accomplishment data should include services supported by agreement 213001.
  • We suggest that you complete these tables before writing the narrative of your Project Response.
  • Only complete the service categories that apply to your funded project components.
  • Your project should be devoted to adult services.
  • You may provide hours in other direct client services categories on a limited, as needed basis.
Add one Outcome Objective for your VOCA Adult program. An outcome objective describes the impact that the services you provide have on clients (i.e., “85% attending group sessions will be able to identify three safety strategies and resources for help”). Your outcome objective should be measurable in some way and should describe what you will do to achieve the objective. You may use one of your current Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) Outcome Measures for this Objective.
  • Objective must be measurable – what do you hope your clients will get out of the service provided?
  • What service is the Outcome Objective related to?
  • Who is responsible for providing that service?

5. EVALUATION
Service Objectives
You should demonstrate that you understand how to use InfoNet reports and other tools to monitor progress on your service objectives for your program. Describe:
Who is responsible for monitoring the program’sprogress on its Service Objectives?
What specific InfoNet reports will be run and what specific service categories will be reviewed to monitor progress?
Who is responsible for updating and maintaining accurate Funding for Staff Statements to ensure accurate service data is reported throughout the year? Who will take on that responsibility if that person cannot perform those duties?
How often will these reports be generated, reviewed and compared to annual Service Objectives to monitor the program’s progress?
Outcome Objectives
Describe how you will measure your Outcome Objective(s).
  • NOTE: Most outcome objectives are NOT measurable by collecting the number of clients served or hours of service provided. Progress on most outcome objectives must be measured in some other way (e.g. survivor surveys, pre/post tests, etc).
Who is responsible for measuring progress on your Outcome Objective?
What steps will be taken to ensure that monitoring takes place throughout the year?
SECTION III

Budget Detail and Budget Narrative

PROPOSED BUDGET(attached in MS Excel file—*.xls format).
Provide a budget and budget narrative that identifies the funds needed to implement your program.
Explain how costs were calculated in narrative form.
Costs must relate directly to the proposed program.
To help you complete this section, instructions and a sample budget and budget narrative are included with this packet.
SECTION IV

Job Description

JOB DESCRIPTION(S). Provide a job description for each position supported by these grant funds. Job descriptions should include duties and qualifications.

Note: Proposals that do not include Sections I, II, III and IV will not be considered for funding. Make sure that all four of these sections (Section I, II, III and IV) are complete.