OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Research and Evaluation Initiative | O OVW 2025 172273

Opportunity Information: Apply for O OVW 2025 172273

The OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Research and Evaluation Initiative is a discretionary funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), offered through cooperative agreements (CFDA 16.026). It is built around two related tracks: (1) the Research and Evaluation (RampE) Initiative and (2) a special initiative called the Research and Evaluation Capacity-building Project. Both tracks focus on strengthening the field's ability to prevent and respond to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, which the notice groups under the broader label of gender-based violence.

Under the RampE Initiative, OVW is looking to fund studies that produce practical, decision-ready evidence about what works to support victims and hold offenders accountable. The main idea is that communities and organizations receiving Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) funding should be able to align their programs with approaches that have demonstrated effectiveness, and also improve their own ability to test and assess new or promising strategies. OVW emphasizes researcher-practitioner partnerships, meaning applicants are expected to connect research expertise with on-the-ground service or system experience so the work reflects real operational conditions and produces findings that can actually be used in practice. Methodologically, RampE is intentionally broad: proposals may use qualitative methods, mixed-method approaches, quasi-experimental designs, or experimental designs. Because OVW notes that research and evaluation dollars are limited, the NOFO also signals that the program will prioritize topics where stronger evidence would most directly help OVW/VAWA recipients use federal funds in the most effective way. OVW also points applicants toward prior RampE-related publications as examples of the types of outputs and contributions the initiative is meant to generate.

The second track, the Research and Evaluation Capacity-building Project, is framed as a field-building investment rather than a single study. Its purpose is to improve the gender-based violence field's ability to identify effective practices, spot service gaps, and generate and use evidence to strengthen both prevention and response efforts. A central goal is to create structured collaboration and knowledge sharing between practitioners and emerging scholars, while also developing skills in evidence-informed decision-making. In practice, this means practitioners should come away with usable tools, frameworks, and approaches they can apply in their daily roles, and emerging scholars should gain firsthand exposure to real-world contexts that will make their future research more grounded and applicable. OVW also highlights the importance of relationship and network building as an explicit objective, including strategies that help create sustainable professional networks that last beyond the life of the grant.

Eligibility for this opportunity is broad across public, nonprofit, Tribal, and higher education sectors. Eligible applicants include state governments and local units of government (such as counties, cities/townships, and special districts), federally recognized Tribal governments, Tribal organizations, nonprofit organizations (both with and without 501(c)(3) status), and public or private institutions of higher education. This wide eligibility reflects the program's emphasis on partnerships and the reality that meaningful gender-based violence research and evaluation often requires collaboration across service providers, justice systems, governments, and academic or research institutions.

Key administrative details included in the listing are an original application closing date of March 4, 2025, an award ceiling of up to $5,000,000, and an anticipated total of 9 awards. The opportunity number is O-OVW-2025-172273, and the activity category is Law, Justice and Legal Services.

• The Office on Violence Against Women in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "OVW Fiscal Year 2025 Research and Evaluation Initiative" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.026.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-01-03.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-03-04. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $5,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 9 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others.

Apply for O OVW 2025 172273

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