OVW hosts FY2026 ICJR office hours, details eligibility, deadlines and funding caps

Jason Patri, a grants management specialist in the Office on Violence Against Women’s Grants to Improve the Criminal Justice Response (ICJR) unit, hosted a recorded office-hours session reviewing the Fiscal Year 2026 notice of funding opportunity and answering applicants’ questions.

Patri laid out key application deadlines and the two-step submission process: applicants must file the SF-424 in Grants.gov by August 18 at 11:59 p.m. and submit the full application in JustGrants by August 20 at 4:59 a.m. Eastern. "Once you submit an application in grants.gov, you will be invited to apply in the JustGrants system," he told participants, and he urged applicants to set up accounts early rather than wait until the deadline.

Why it matters: ICJR awards fund services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking and can support law-enforcement or prosecution activities when partnered with eligible government applicants. Patri summarized major program rules applicants must plan for: eligible applicant types, required partner documentation in a memorandum of understanding (MOU), population-based funding caps, and several limited supplemental funding opportunities.

Eligibility and partners Patri reiterated that police departments and prosecutors’ offices are units within government and cannot serve as the legal lead applicant; they must apply through their state, tribal or unit-of-local-government sponsor. "A police department is a department within a government. It is actually the government that would need to apply," he said. Coalitions and victim service providers must be 501(c)(3) organizations to apply; the NOFO defines victim service providers in the footnotes.

Required certifications for governments and nonprofit applicants include an eligibility certification, a prosecution certification and a minor-certification, and Patri said each must be signed by the chief executive officer of the government (for example, a governor, mayor, or county chair). A staff member added a caveat that local government structures vary and applicants should confirm who legally serves as the chief executive in their jurisdiction.

Funding amounts and set-asides Patri reviewed population-based caps and supplemental awards. The base ICJR population cap, for example, makes jurisdictions under 400,000 people eligible for $500,000 in base funds. Additional targeted funds are available: up to $300,000 for policing and prosecution activities and up to $200,000 for projects that allocate at least 45% of their budget to meaningfully address sexual assault; applicants qualifying for both extras may request both (as much as $500,000 above the population cap). Patri used a county example to illustrate the math: an 890,000-population jurisdiction could be eligible for $1,000,000 base ICJR funds and, if meeting the policing/prosecution and sexual-assault criteria, up to $1,500,000 total.

Budget, allowable costs and TTA Patri said applicants should use OVW’s sample budget narrative to separate base ICJR, policing/prosecution, and sexual-assault cost lines. Rent is an allowable cost, but it should be prorated to the project’s share of occupancy rather than charged fully to the grant. He also noted a smaller required set-aside for OVW-sponsored training and technical assistance (TTA): applicants must budget at least $5,000 for OVW-sponsored TTA over the 36-month project period; this is a project-level minimum, not a per-person fee.

MOU, attachments and page limits Patri emphasized the MOU documents the required partnership and must include at least the lead applicant and the required partner as signatories. If multiple victim service providers participate, a single MOU may include all partners (applicants were told not to submit more than one MOU). The MOU body is limited to five double-spaced pages (2.5 pages single-spaced), excluding signature pages. Many other NOFO-required items appear as uploaded attachments (for example, the summary data sheet), while only a few items are filled directly in JustGrants.

Program scope clarifications Patri clarified allowable client populations and program scope: ICJR funds can support victims age 11 and older; if an assault began before age 11 and continued past 11, services tied to that continuing assault may be allowable. He also said human-trafficking services are allowable only when they meaningfully address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking; labor trafficking not tied to those offenses is not covered by ICJR.

Specific program questions During Q&A participants asked whether ICJR funds can pay for HIV testing, prophylaxis or treatment for sexual-assault victims without other coverage. A staff member answered that funds can be used for treatment tied to a sexual-assault exam (for example, kit-related medical costs), and invited follow-up to document details. Participants also raised practical questions about MOUs when multiple partners or subawardees are involved; Patri advised including relevant partners in a single MOU and said the MOU will be assessed as evidence of partnerships against the proposal narrative during review.

Next steps and contact Patri closed by reminding attendees the session recording and Q&A will be posted to the ICJR page on the OVW site and by providing the email icjr@usdoj.gov for follow-up questions. "This session is being recorded, to be posted on the OVW website," he said. Applicants were urged to review linked NOFO documents on the OVW webpage, plan ahead for Grants.gov and JustGrants submissions, and ensure required certifications and the signed MOU are in order before filing.