AVA/OVW Conference Call Summary – January 2019

AVA/OVW CONFERENCE CALL SUMMARYJANUARY 14, 2019
11:00 – 12:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST)

OVW Staff: OVW Associate Director Amy Loder, STOP Program Managers Latonya Eaddy and Omar Mohammed, SASP Team Lead Melissa Schmisek

AVA Board Members: Julia Fuller-Wilson, Bill Schaefer, Cecilia Miller, Tina Chamberlain, MaryEllen Garcia, Michelle Bynum, Diana Fleming, Merry Wills

AVA Executive Director: Barry Bryant

SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:

Muskie Report

Should administrators continue to use the report on the Muskie website that has expired?

  •  Administrators should NOT use this report!  Instead, they should use the report that is downloaded from GMS.
  •  Should continue to receive notices from Ginger at Muskie about new form, etc.
  •   Subgrantees should use the expired form for their annual progress report.

STOP/SASP Application Release

Can you give us an update on when these will be released?

  •  No update at this point.
  •  We always try to get them out about two weeks apart from each other.
  •  There is no approved federal budget at this time so OVW has no allocations at this stage.
  •  Solicitations have to be approved outside of the OVW office which adds time to the process.

STOP Annual Conference and SASP Regional Meetings

At what point would the shutdown have an impact on the STOP annual conference and SASP Regional Meetings?

  • The shutdown will not impact the annual or regional meetings as the budget and conference request forms have already been        approved for those conferences. Administrators should go as planned.
  •  The shutdown could impact OVW staff’s capacity to attend as their travel is limited.

Is OVW deemed “essential services”?

  •  OVW is currently open due to some available funding and that is why we are able to stay open and functioning until January 18th.  After January 18th, the number of available OVW staff is unknown.
  •  All communications about the shutdown will come from the OVW Acting Director, Katherine Sullivan.
  •  AVA Board members shared that the TA from OVW has been excellent

Are OVW/OVC quarterly meetings still being conducted?

  •  Status of quarterly meeting is unknown.

Will SASP regional meeting scheduled for January in Phoenix take place?

  • Yes

SASP in Feb in St. Louis take place?

  • Yes

AVA Assistance

Is there anything that we can do during the shutdown to assist OVW?

Is there anything that we can do after the shutdown to assist OVW?

  • OVW – Communications have been as frequent and comprehensive as they can be.
    OVW – Spread the word and please ask administrators to update their contact information in GMS.
  • If email address for the authorized rep (individual who signs off on grant) and point contact are the same, make sure to update the point of contact information and the signing official email address.
    OVW – You can request drawdown for up to 10 days (cash on hand). You can keep up to 10 days worth of cash on hand but after that you are in violation. Must spend within 10 days
  • Can drawdown for reimbursements but recommend doing so before January 18th.

VAWA Reauthorization

  •  No update at this point

Other Discussion

  • AVA – We are entertaining an idea of doing joint P2P with NAVAA
  • OVW – interesting idea, we will think about this and get back to you
  • AVA – enormous amounts of VOCA funding. Is there any possibility that OVW will coordinate with OVC
  • OVW – OVW can only speak about VAWA and OVC can only talk about VOCA and thus (OVW) can only share solutions that address VAWA.
  • AVA – this seems like a great opportunity to share ideas about leveraging funds and what VAWA can support that VOCA cannot.
  • OVW – have heard a lot from states about this and we would say that the conversation about leveraging funds, etc. is a good conversation that AVA may want to have during a P2P by sharing what other states are doing.
  • OVW – All states/territories should naturally be coordinating funding between all funding sources.
  • Allocation categories – What kinds of justification do we provide to OVW when we cannot find programs to fund for prosecution, courts and law enforcement? How do we address this administratively?
  • OVW –  FAQs can help and your OVW Program Manager can help also as this is statutory and there MUST be clear evidence that you have made attempts.
  • AVA – Are you open to extensions?
  • OVW – We are open to grant extensions but we can’t keep awards open beyond 5 years.

 

 

Call ended at approximately 11:55am EST.Next Call: April 8th, 2019 at 11:00am EST.