CJASGPP

Office on Violence Against Women

145 N Street Ne

Suite 10W.121

Washington, DC 20530

Dear Director:

This grant requires that the applicant certify registration with the System for Award Management using the agency DUNS number. In the event of a grant proposal, the Middle Georgia State University Health Department would need to verify the date of registration.

First time grant applicants would need to verify registration on Grants.gov as a requirement in the letter of intent. The date of registration on Grants.gov would need to be included.

The Middle Georgia State University Health Clinic intends to submit a sample grant proposal for the Grants to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on Campus Program.

Sample Grant for an Assignment

Cover Letter

Director

Office on Violence Against Women

145 N Street Ne

Suite 10W.121

Washington, DC 20530

Dear Director,

The Middle Georgia State University Health Department would like to submit a sample grant proposal to enhance the treatment and investigation of sexual assault on the campuses of Middle Georgia State University. Five campuses and over 7,000 students are served by the campus health department.

The 36-month program will require funding of $73,274. The funding requested in this sample application will facilitate departmental and cultural change within the services offered to students on campus. The awarded funds will provide the training for the health clinic nurses needed to provide currently lacking post assault services to student survivors of sexual violence. The program proposed will also facilitate cooperation between campus departments and facilitate new partnerships with off-campus service providers and law enforcement agencies.

Sample

Sample Grant Proposal for CJ Admin

Michael Shane Woodard

University of North Georgia

Department of Criminal Justice

Abstract

The Middle Georgia State University Health Clinic seeks to provide SANE training to the current nursing staff and acquire the equipment needed to allow for forensic examinations at the campus health clinics. The grant being applied for is the OVW Grant to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on Campus Program. This will be a grant delivering funding for a 36-month program that will seek to acquire the needed training and equipment in the first six months. While training and equipment are being implemented, the health clinic director will begin working with internal and external partners to implement the peripheral facets of the program. The goal is to have a working SANE program within the first 12 months of the grant and then to deliver SANE services on a 24/7 schedule to the student population.

Needs Statement

Purpose of the Proposal

The purpose of this proposal is to acquire grant funding to provide improved care to survivors of sexual assault at Middle Georgia State University. This will be accomplished by using the grant funds to provide SANE training to the existing nursing staff, purchase the equipment and supplies needed for forensic exams, and create a post-assault service that is available on campus.

The Community Served

The Middle Georgia State University Health Department serves three campuses with residential halls and two satellite campuses. The combined enrollment across those five campuses was 7,280 in Spring of 2022 (Office of Institutional Research and Data Strategy, 2022). The campuses with residential halls are in Macon, Eastman, and Cochran. The majority of enrollment can be found on the campuses with student housing. The Macon campus had an enrollment of 1,696 during the Fall semester of 2021. During the same semester, the Eastman campus had an enrollment of 353 students while the Cochran campus had an enrollment of 961 students (Office of Institutional Research and Data Strategy, 2022). The Health Department has offices on the Macon and Cochran campuses with a nurse practitioner serving in each office (Middle Georgia State University, n.d.-b). The Macon and Cochran campuses have administrative assistants working with the nurse practitioners. Students on the Eastman campus are required to travel to the Cochran campus for health services.

Post-Assault Care

A Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, or SANE, has the training and education to provide specialized care to patients after a sexual assault, but the health services on campus are unable to provide post-assault care to students. The nurse practitioners working on the Macon and Cochran campuses have not received any specialized training to provide a post-assault medical forensic examination, and the health offices are not supplied with the forensic kits needed to conduct an examination. The health department is also not currently providing 24-hour coverage. Students facing a post-assault health crisis after hours must rely completely on the campus police department and/or a hospital off campus.

The Need for Post-Assault Care

According to RAINN (n.d.), male college students aged 18 to 24 are 78% more likely to be a victim of rape or sexual assault than non-students of the same age. Female students aged 18 to 24 are three times more likely to be a victim of sexual violence than women in other age groups, while 18- to 24-year-old women in general have a four times higher risk than other women of being victims of sexual violence. Overall, RAINN (n.d.) reports that 13% of all undergraduate and graduate students will be victims of rape or sexual assault involving physicality, some form of violence, or incapacitation. 9.7% of graduate females and 26.4% of undergraduate females will experience rape or sexual assault involving physicality, some form of violence, or incapacitation. 2.5% of graduate males and 6.8% of undergraduate males will experience rape or sexual assault involving physicality, some form of violence, or incapacitation. Data from RAINN (n.d.) indicates that the rates of sexual assault victimization among transgender, genderqueer, and nonconforming college students could be as high as 23.1%.

The actual instances of sexual violence on campus could be much higher according to RAINN data. Only 20% of female students in the 18-to-24-year age range report sexual violence to law enforcement (RAINN, n.d.).

Crime Data for the Areas Served by Middle Georgia State University

The need for post-assault care can be further examined by looking at crime data for the areas served by the college. The GBI has compiled crime data by county based on index crimes. Index crimes include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson, human trafficking involving commercial sex acts, and human trafficking involving involuntary servitude. This section will give the index crime data for each county with a Middle Georgia State University student living center. After the index crime rate, the actual crime numbers on each campus related to sexual violence will be given. Rape, fondling, incest, and statutory rape are the included crimes categorized under sexual assault in the Clery annual crime report for Middle Georgia State University. Since the definition of dating violence includes the threat or occurrence or sexual abuse, data for dating violence will also be provided.

The Eastman Campus

The Eastman Campus is in Dodge County. Dodge County has an index crime rate of 25.28 per 1,000 in 2021 and three rapes were reported in Dodge County in the same year (Georgia Bureau of Investigation, 2021). The Clery Crime Report provides data on the Eastman Campus for 2019, 2020, and 2021. The Eastman campus had no occurrences of rape, statutory rapes, or dating violence during those reported years, but an incident of fondling was reported on campus in 2021 (Middle Georgia State University, 2022a).

The Macon Campus

The Macon campus is located in Bibb County. Bibb had an index crime rate of 42.95 per 1,000 people in 2021 and 66 rapes were reported in that same year (Georgia Bureau of Investigation, 2021). The Macon campus had no occurrences or rape, statutory rape, or incest reported in the Clery Security report for 2019, 2020, and 2021. One incident of fondling was reported on campus in 2019 and another incident of fondling was reported on campus in 2020 (Middle Georgia State University, 2022a). One incident of dating violence was reported as occurring on the Macon campus in 2021.

The Cochran Campus

The Cochran campus is located in Bleckley County. Bleckley has an index crime rate of 17.33 for 2021 with five rapes reported during the same year (Georgia Bureau of Investigation, 2021). The Clery Security Report shows that two rapes were reported on campus at the student residential facilities in 2021 (Middle Georgia State University, 2022a). No occurrences of statutory rape, incest, or fondling occurred on the Cochran campus for the reported years, but the campus did see several reports of dating violence. The Clery report shows three cases of dating violence occurring on the Cochran campus in 2019, two occurrences of dating violence in 2020, and two occurrences of dating violence in 2021.

The Benefits of a Post-Assault Response on Campus

The lack of post-assault services for students creates several problems. According to Campbell et al. (2022), SANE services are often difficult to find in colleges and hospitals outside of large urban areas. Students are often forced to seek care at unfamiliar hospitals off-campus that might not be able to provide the care associated with sexual assault nurse examiners. Students might not be aware that a medical forensic exam would be provided for free due to the Violence Against Women Act (Campbell et al., 2022). The anticipated cost of an exam could dissuade students from seeking help along with fears of the exam being documented on family insurance claims (Campbell et al., 2022). Uncertainty about healthcare combined with privacy concerns could cause victims to reconsider seeking an exam. SANE services could eliminate the uncertainty experienced by survivors of a sexual assault while also providing more specialized care than a traditionally trained nurse. According to the Office for Victims of Crime (2016), survivors of sexual assault feel safe, informed, and supported after receiving SANE services.

A nurse with SANE training will provide additional criminal justice related benefits to the investigative process. Evidence collection during an examination, expert testimony from SANE trained nurses, and general investigative efforts will all benefit from having SANE trained nurses conduct the forensic examination (Office for Victims of Crime, 2016).

Project Description and Implementation

When implemented, this program should ensure that survivors of a sexual assault on campus should always have a SANE trained nurse as a contact point. The main components of the project will involve providing SANE training to the nursing staff, modifying policies and job descriptions, acquiring equipment for the forensic exams, informing the students and staff about the existence of the SANE program, implementing an on-call service to provide 24/7 coverage, and facilitating cooperation with other departments to help advance the project. More detail will be given in each section, but the 36-month timeline will seek to have a working SANE program in the first 12 months. The final two months will be useful for evaluating and refining the program. The primary driver of the implementation will be the health clinic director with the assistance of health clinic employees and partners from other internal departments.

Training

SANE training requires a 40-hour didactic training course followed by a SANE clinical preceptorship. The International Association of Forensic Nurses offers a 41-hour online training course that satisfies SANE requirements. The fee varies depending on membership with IAFN. Members have a fee of $350 for the course and non-members have a fee of $500. Emory University offers a two-day SANE clinical training program through the Georgia Forensic Nursing Network for a fee of $650. The health director for the campus clinics will begin scheduling training for the nursing staff within the first six months of the funding. Six months are allowed for this due to the uncertainty of training being immediately available through training providers.

Job Description and Policies

The nurse practitioner on the Macon campus is currently the manager of the health clinic services for all campuses. This position will have to be modified to also include ensuring that SANE training continues to be a requirement for the health clinic nurses. Recruitment will need to refocus on SANE nurses. If SANE nurses cannot be recruited, then the nurse practitioner manager will need to schedule SANE training for all newly hired nurses.

The policies of the health clinic will need to change to account for the SANE services. For example, SANE trained staff will need to account for FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) along with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Policies will need to be crafted that guarantees student privacy and guides faculty members. The first 12-month period of the program will involve the refinement and finalization of policies that will be needed for a working SANE program. This is a process that will require cooperation between the health clinic personnel and the department heads of the inter-agency partners.

Equipment

The health offices on the Macon, Cochran, and Eastman campuses are examining rooms with basic medical supplies. The Eastman campus does not have a current nurse practitioner, but a medical office with basic supplies is present on the Eastman campus. Specialized equipment will be needed to allow for forensic examinations by SANE trained nurses. The clinic on each campus will need an SDFI Camera and a Barrier-Free Examination Chair so that each medical office has the needed basic equipment for forensic exams. The goal will be to have the needed equipment ordered and installed within the first six months of the program.

Informing the Students and Staff

The students will need to be aware of the SANE services on campus. This can be accomplished during new student orientation and through emails to existing students using the already existing systems on campus at no additional cost. The sexual assault awareness program that is already delivered to students during orientation can be modified to incorporate information about the SANE program.

Implementing an On-Call Service

The on-call service will be difficult to implement since a system does not exist on campus to pay the health center nurses for after-hour calls. The health department, until this grant proposal, never offered on-call services after working hours. Accurately estimating the volume of after-hour calls when combined with a SANE program is difficult. According to the Office for Victims of Crime (2016), the presence of a SANE program will result in an increased willingness from students to report sexual violence. Consider the possible impact of a SANE program on the RAINN (n.d.) data stating that only 20% of female students report cases of sexual violence. If the presence of a SANE nurse has an impact on the willingness to report, then the two rapes reported on the Cochran campus in 2021 could have been ten. Still, the need for after-hours services will be difficult to estimate without a program evaluation. Even with an accurate measure of after-hours calls for service, the college will need to implement a payment system that will allow for compensation to the nurses required to work overtime. For the moment, this is not a concern for this project. The currently employed nurse practitioners are salaried employees. In addition, the nurse practitioners have stated that they will include after-hours calls for service as part of their job description while the program is evaluated. The initial implementation of the on-call service will not require any extra equipment since duty phones are already available.

The existing nurse practitioners will rotate being on-call for one rotating school week per nurse. If a call is received, the on-call nurse will triage the call and determine if an immediate examination is needed. If the call is instead made to the campus police dispatcher, then the dispatchers will be instructed to forward the call to the on-call SANE nurse or campus law enforcement depending on the request made by the student.

Cooperation with Other Departments

This project will require the cooperation of the campus police department, student services, university counselors, and the enrollment center. The police department will provide examination kits to the medical offices to alleviate additional budget concerns. Student services and counseling services will need to be aware of the program and refer students as needed. Student services, the police department, and the enrollment center will need to advertise the existence of the SANE program on campus and ensure that the students are informed before a crisis occurs. This can be accomplished by using emails, flyers, webpage advertising on the college website, and police department outreach. These systems are already in place and will require no additional funding. In general, faculty and staff will need to be informed of the existence of SANE services as a referral option. Additional funding will not be needed to facilitate cooperation with internal partners.

Evaluation Plan

The following goals will be measured by the evaluation plan:

· Delivery of the SANE Training to Existing Staff

· Purchase and Set-up of the Requested Equipment

· The Student Population along with Faculty and Staff are Made Aware of the Program

Delivery of the SANE Training to Existing Staff

The two nurse practitioners employed by the health clinic will be scheduled for SANE training through IAFN and Emory University. Training certificates and receipts can be provided to prove the scheduled training was completed.

Purchase and Set-up of the Requested Equipment

Receipts along with documentation of the delivery and installation of the requested equipment will be provided.

The Student Population is Made Aware of the Program

Documentation will be provided showing that orientation for new students provides information on the SANE services available through the Health Clinic. Documentation will also be provided showing the efforts made through emails and flyers advertising the SANE services to the student population. Documents will be provided showing that faculty and staff have been made aware of SANE services as a referral option.

Every Student Experiencing a Sexual Assault will have a SANE trained Nurse as a Contact Point

Measuring the SANE services will involve a few layers. First, the health clinic will track the number of calls for SANE services. This will require cooperation from other departments on campus that might have received a complaint from a student regarding a sexual assault. The goal is to ensure that all survivors of a sexual assault on campus have the option to contact an on-campus SANE nurse.

These calls will be divided by working hours and on-call after hour incidents. Data will also include when an in-person exam was deemed necessary, or a next day exam was sufficient. Sustainability will be discussed in more detail in a later section, but tracking the on-call hours will help to determine the need for a more formal on-call schedule. Lastly, a Likert scale questionnaire will be used to gauge the attitudes of the students using the SANE services. The questionnaire will avoid questions about the sexual assault itself and will focus on questions measuring the opinions about the services provided by the nurses.

Budget Request

Training/Equipment Computation Cost

Online Didactic $350 x 2 $700

Clinical Skills $650 x 2 $1300

IAFN Membership ($129 x 2) x 3 $774

SDFI Cameras $14,000 x 3 $42,000

Exam Chairs $9,500 x 3 $28,500

TOTAL REQUEST: $73,274

Budget Justification

Training

SANE training requires a didactic portion and then a clinical skills portion. The didactic portion offered through the IAFN is reduced from $500 to $350 for IAFN members. The budget will account for an IAFN membership for each currently employed nurse for each year of the program costing $129 each per year. Membership in IAFN will provide continuing discounts and training opportunities for members. The clinical skills portion is offered through Emory University at a price of $650 per student. Additionally, the peripheral travel expenses usually associated with training are not a factor in this case. The health clinic has a budget for travel costs and will absorb those travel-related expenses.

Equipment

The SDFI cameras are forensic level cameras that will allow examiners to capture photos in a hands-free environment. The Barrier-Free Examination Chairs allow for height adjustment and will allow easier access for survivors with injuries. Three cameras and three examination chairs are being requested so that one will be available on site at each campus with a dorm. The other equipment needed is already available at the existing clinics on each campus. The examination kits will be provided by the campus police department and will require no additional funding.

Future Funding and Sustainability

The Health Department has stated that budgeting can be adjusted for the periods after the grant ends based on the findings of the evaluation plan. The impact of the SANE program will be measured based on the increased demand for service. The Health Department has made a commitment to budget adjustments to account for the findings of the evaluation.

Sustainability can be further enhanced by the Georgia Crime Victims Compensation Program offered by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. This program will provide up to $1,000 for each forensic medical exam per victim to the organization providing the exam.

External Memorandum of Understanding (External Partner)

A requirement of this grant proposal is a partnership with at least two external providers including a community organization and a law enforcement agency. The Middle Georgia State University Health Department will partner with the Crisis Line & Safe House of Central Georgia. CL&SH offers a shelter, counseling, legal services, and sexual assault centers to the Central Georgia area. A mutual referral agreement will be arranged between the agencies to allow for cross-agency services.

A partnership with the local law enforcement agencies serving the Macon, Cochran, and Eastman campuses will be initiated. This will require an internal partnership with the campus police in each location to help with outreach to the departments. This will allow local law enforcement to be aware of SANE services and to be aware that the service can be used as a resource for students.

These partnerships will abide by the privacy restrictions established by VAWA to help protect survivors of sexual assault. The campus police will assist with the outreach needed to inform local agencies about the privacy restrictions. A document proving the EMOU will be provided in the Appendix section.

Internal Memorandum of Understanding (Internal Partner)

Internal partnerships will be initiated with the campus police department, the enrollment center, student services, and campus counseling services. These partnerships will not involve the spending of grant funds. Instead, these partnerships will be necessary to inform the student population about the existence of the SANE program and to provide referrals to the SANE program as a new resource. The Health Department will be responsible for making sure that the partner departments are aware of privacy concerns and VAWA privacy requirements for survivors of sexual assault. A document proving the IMOU will be provided in the Appendix section.

Certification of Eligibility

This grant requires that the participating institution follow the Higher Education Act of 1965 that outlines crime-data collection procedures and policies for colleges and universities. The required certification letter will be provided in the Appendix section.

Certification of Statutory Minimum Requirements

This grant requires that certain statutory minimum requirements must be met by the grant-seeking institution. A certification form is required to prove compliance.

The first involves the formation of a coordinated community response that involves the external and internal partners outlined in the EMOU and IMOU.

The second involves the creation of a prevention or education program for first year and transfer students that deals with dating violence, domestic violence, and sexual assault. A prevention program is already delivered to students during orientation, and the SANE program information will be added.

The third involves ensuring that campus law enforcement has received the training to allow for an informed response to stalking, domestic violence, dating violence, and sexual assault. Campus law enforcement officers receive annual training covering stalking, domestic violence, dating violence, and sexual assault.

The fourth requires that faculty member in the disciplinary process on campus be given training on dealing with domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. This training has already occurred among the faculty members on disciplinary committees, but information specific to the SANE program will be added to future training.

The required certification will be submitted in the Appendix section.

Confidentiality Notice Form

This grant requires that a certificate be submitted acknowledging that the grantees will comply with the privacy requirements of VAWA. The required form will be submitted in the Appendix section.

Letter of Nonsupplanting

A certificate will be submitted ensuring that funds will not be used to supplant non-federal funds.

Disclosure of Lobbying Activities

A form will be submitted certifying the transparency of lobbying activities.

Applicant Disclosure of Duplication in Cost Items

A form will be submitted outlining all OVW awards.

References