OVSJG says new GovGrants system, site visits and program metrics are improving oversight and payments
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Summary
OVSJG Director Jennifer Porter told the committee the agency implemented a new grants management platform (GovGrants), improved site visits and training, and is tracking program metrics more closely; the Private Security Camera Incentive and Address Confidentiality Programs were highlighted as measurable successes.
Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants (OVSJG) leadership told the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety that a new grants management platform and expanded monitoring work have started to reduce administrative delays and improve grantee support.
Director Jennifer Porter said OVSJG adopted GovGrants in FY24; the system centralizes budgets, invoices and documentation, offers message‑center features for grantee‑to‑staff communication, and enables better analysis of spending and performance trends. Witnesses representing several large grantees told the committee the system and related trainings improved transparency and reduced invoice and closeout friction.
Porter said OVSJG administered 147 awards to community organizations and district agencies in FY24 and that the office is the state administering agency for multiple federal victim‑services and justice grants. She highlighted grant‑management training, pre‑bidder webinars and peer‑review panels as parts of a more robust review and technical assistance model.
The director reviewed two discrete OVSJG programs with trackable outputs. The Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) trained 718 people in FY24 and accepted 85 participants; ACP provides substitute legal addresses and mail forwarding for eligible survivors. The Private Security Camera Incentive Program, a popular rebate and voucher program to expand registered private cameras for police investigations, approved 649 rebate and voucher applications and funded 1,569 cameras in FY24; since inception OVSJG has approved 12,513 rebates/vouchers and funded 29,136 cameras. Porter said footage from program participants supported arrests in multiple homicide and assault cases.
Porter also outlined OVSJG’s juvenile justice work through the Juvenile Justice Advisory Group (JJAG) and said JJAG advises the mayor on federal Title II planning and monitors compliance with the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. The agency said it conducted multiple site visits to MPD precincts and youth facilities in FY24.
Committee members pressed for examples of how site visits changed grant practices; Porter said visits are used to identify operational gaps and to tailor technical assistance and trainings, and that the new data lead will help OVSJG publish more performance information.
Ending: OVSJG presented the new management system and monitoring work as steps toward greater transparency and faster payments; Porter asked the committee to continue partnership on budget and staffing priorities to maintain oversight capacity.
