AVA/OVW Conference Call Summary – November 2015

Summary of

Conference Call Meeting between AVA& OVW

Date: Monday, November 2, 2015

Time: 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

 

 

OVW Staff: Associate Director Michelle Brickley, Program Managers Kim Galvan, Omar Mohammed, and Kevin Sweeney

AVA Board Members: MaryEllen Garcia, Michelle Bynum

AVA Exec. Dir.: Dorene Whitworth

 

 

TOPICS DISCUSSED:

 

STOP Administrators’ Conference:

 

Michelle Brickley relayed that OVW will be holding a joint meeting this year with both coalition directors and STOP administrators. This will be the first joint meeting since the passage of VAWA 2013. It was a huge challenge to keep costs below thresholds so approvals could be obtained in house. As such, states and territories will only be able to send one participant and will be required to cover their own travel expenses. Michelle explained that incremental costs increase with more participants because there would be a need for more breakout rooms, etc. All TA providers have small amounts of scholarship funds for those needing assistance. OVW will be providing guidance regarding the conference later this week. STOP Administrators will be able to use administrative funds from any open STOP award to cover travel expenses for the joint meeting. The whole process will be new this year since SAAs will book their own travel. In their letter, OVW will include a reminder that the special conditions require attendance to help administrators in gaining travel approvals.

 

As has been done previously, the territories will meet on Monday since most arrive on the Saturday prior to the meeting. There will not be a new administrators’ session, however webinars and related resources of federal presentations will be distributed prior to the joint meeting. AVA will initiate outreach with administrators regarding content and SAA concerns. Also discussed was the potential of moving the AVA meeting to the lunch spot on the first day of the conference.

 

AVA Regional Meeting:

 

AVA discussed the current plans to host regional meetings to assist administrators with the day-to-day management of their STOP awards. AVA is hearing about significant need from new administrators who had not had the benefit of a predecessor who trained them. The meetings will be open to all administrators and are designed to provide a peer-to-peer forum where STOP administrators can have face-to-face conversations about administering OVW formula funds.  The plan is to touch on topics such as the challenge in tracking category percentages; funding strategies for meeting set-asides; carrying monies over year to year to fill gaps in funding areas, managing returned monies, etc.  These will be smaller groups of administrators and/or their staff. AVA is hoping to hold the first meeting in late January but the details are still being worked out.

 

We also discussed strategies for keeping AVA, OVW and ALSO updated on contact information for new administrators. Based on a survey conducted by AVA earlier this year, 30+% of administrators were new to the STOP program and we’ve seen numerous changes since then. This presents a tremendous challenge to keeping distribution lists accurate and ensuring everyone receives critical information. Going forward, AVA, OVW and ALSO will share information as it is received regarding new contacts. AVA also shared other efforts, e.g. collecting all implementation plans and posting them to their website, coordinating with other national organizations to broaden communications; webinar on indirect costs, etc.

 

AVA will also be developing a new administrator packet that will provide administrators with a variety of information relating to the STOP program.

 

 

PREA Forms:

 

The new PREA worksheet has been distributed. OVW confirms that there is no particular due date for submitting this form; however, penalty monies will be held until the form is approved by the OVW program manager.

 

 

Next Call: December 7th @ 11:00 EST