The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has released the Fiscal Year 2025 Research and Evaluation (R&E) Initiative funding opportunity, under Assistance Listing Number 16.026 and Grants.gov Funding Opportunity Number O-OVW-2025-172273. This initiative supports research and evaluation projects aimed at enhancing knowledge and understanding of effective strategies to prevent and address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The program funds studies that improve services for victims, hold offenders accountable, and support evidence-based policy and practice. A special initiative, the Research and Evaluation Capacity-building Project, focuses on enhancing the capacity of practitioners and emerging scholars to use and generate evidence in addressing gender-based violence.

The R&E Initiative prioritizes research in six key areas: justice system responses, victim needs, cultural disparities in access to services, the impact of interventions, indicators of success, and strategies to prevent reoffending. Specific topics include evaluating trauma-informed law enforcement practices, interventions targeting marginalized communities, restorative justice approaches, and addressing survivor needs intersecting with mental health and substance use issues. Additionally, the initiative will fund one large-scale, multi-site evaluation of trauma-informed law enforcement training under the Abby Honold Act, with an award ceiling of $5 million. The Capacity-building Project will focus on fostering collaboration between practitioners and scholars, providing training, developing research resources, and building sustainable professional networks.

The total anticipated funding for FY25 is $9 million, with approximately eight awards expected under the R&E Initiative and one under the Capacity-building Project. Typical awards under the R&E Initiative are capped at $500,000, except for the Abby Honold Act evaluation, which may receive up to $5 million. The Capacity-building Project has an award ceiling of $600,000. Project periods vary: up to 36 months for standard R&E projects, 36 to 48 months for the Abby Honold Act evaluation, and 24 months for the Capacity-building Project. Cost-sharing is not required, and eligible applicants include states, territories, units of local government, Indian tribal governments, tribal organizations, nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status), and institutions of higher education.

Applications require submission through a two-step process. First, applicants must submit the SF-424 and SF-LLL forms in Grants.gov by March 4, 2025. Second, the full application package, including the proposal narrative, budget narrative, and required appendices, must be submitted in JustGrants by March 6, 2025. A Letter of Intent is encouraged, with a submission deadline of February 7, 2025. Proposals must adhere to strict formatting and content requirements and include documentation such as curricula vitae, letters of commitment from partners, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) documentation for studies involving human subjects.

Evaluation criteria include the significance of the problem addressed, the soundness of the research design, the capacity of the applicant organization, and the potential impact of the findings. Dissemination plans must outline strategies for sharing research results with practitioners, policymakers, and the public. Applicants should also address issues of data archiving, participant confidentiality, and research integrity. Awards are expected to be announced by September 30, 2025.

Pre-application resources include an optional information session on January 15, 2025, and office hours on January 21 and January 28, 2025. Questions regarding the application process can be directed to OVW.Research@usdoj.gov.