Domestic Violence Prevention Fund

Request for Proposals

The RICADV is currently accepting proposals for Domestic Violence Prevention Fund Community Micro-grants! To view the Request for Proposals (RFP), click here.

The RFP welcomes applications that address shared risk and protective factors for violence and focus on changing norms, policies, and community conditions that allow domestic violence to happen in the first place.

A total of $78,000 will be distributed to support one-time Community Micro-grants ranging from $1,000 to $15,000. Community Micro-grants will support short-term projects that will be completed by June 30, 2022.

Applications must be received by 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 7, 2021. Applications should be emailed in PDF format to Krista D’Amico, director of prevention, krista@ricadv.org.

The RICADV held an applicant technical assistance call on Wednesday, September 15, 2021. Please click here to view the slides used during the call or to watch a recording of the session.

Below, please find answers to the questions we have received from prospective applicants. This Q&A section will be updated until the due date for proposals.

Q: Is this RFP limited to programs for youth?
The RFP is not limited to programs for young people. However, priority will be given to proposals that focus on engaging and affirming youth of color; LGBTQ, Two‐Spirit, and gender-nonconforming youth; and youth with disabilities.

Q: Is it possible to share a link to the budget template?
Please see the last page of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the budget template. The budget template is also available for download here.

Q: What types of operational attachments have been submitted in the past?
A past proposal that focused on engaging young people through a mobile app included screenshots of the app to illustrate how it works. Attachments might include the outline of a curriculum to be implemented or examples of materials to be used during project activities, such as community flyers or workshop handouts. They could include samples of an existing public awareness campaign that will be utilized or as an example of what will be developed. Attachments might include an evaluation report that describes promising outcomes related to the proposal.

Q: Can attachments include links to videos?
Yes, attachments can include web links to videos. The funding committee will receive electronic copies of proposals, so links will be accessible. Applicants should consider linking to one or two short videos (no longer than two to three minutes) to ensure they are viewed by the committee.

Q: Can funding be used to develop websites?
The RFP does not prohibit funding from being used to develop websites. The proposal should make the case for how this activity aligns with the goals of the RFP, according to the Scope of Work outlined in Section 4 (page 4).

Q: Is it okay to update or amend a previous proposal and submit it this funding cycle?
Yes, applicants may submit a proposal that builds on a previous one. If the applicant is a previous funding recipient of the DVPF, please see the guidance in the Knowledge, Experience and Referral Capacity section of the RFP (page 5). Describe your past accomplishments as a DVPF recipient, how the application builds on previously funded efforts, and why funding is still needed.

There is no restriction that would prohibit applicants from submitting a past proposal that was not funded. However, the proposal may need to be revised or strengthened and should closely align with the goals of the RFP, according to the Scope of Work outlined in Section 4 (page 4). The RICADV is available to provide feedback to applicants on any proposals that are not successfully funded.

Q: Would storytelling to grades K-5 or middle school students or a Public Service Announcement for TV or Radio fall within the scope of the DVPF?
Yes, these activities may fall within the scope of the DVPF, as long as they align with the goals of the RFP and the Scope of Work outlined in Section 4 (page 4). Storytelling workshops that engage young people in crafting their own stories and narratives, or contests where young people can submit stories or artwork around a theme may also be considered.

For additional questions or needs, please contact Krista D'Amico, director of prevention at krista@ricadv.org.

Purpose & Goals

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health issue that can be prevented.

The purpose of the DVPF is to increase the number of schools, community groups and community-based organizations that are engaged in a public health approach to preventing IPV.

DVPF projects can, for example, support RI schools to align with the state’s comprehensive teen dating violence education law, the Lindsay Ann Burke Act through school climate and systems change strategies, such as:

Policy implementation
Staff training
Media campaigns
Community organizing with parent organizations, athletic programs and district-level health and wellness committees

While domestic violence and dating abuse can happen to anyone, the burden of this violence is not shared equally among groups. Women of color, people who are LGBTQ, people with disabilities and youth bear a disproportionate impact.

The goal of the DVPF is to address such disparities in Rhode Island by supporting prevention strategies that prioritize and center communities most impacted by IPV. The DVPF Advisory Committee gives prioritiy to proposals that focus on engaging and affirming youth of color; LGBTQ, Two-Spirit, and Gender Nonconforming youth; and youth with disabilities in IPV prevention efforts and activities.

Implementation Projects

DVPF Implementation Projects focus on addressing shared risk and protective factors for violence and on altering norms, policies, and community conditions to prevent IPV before it starts.

Grantees

Progreso Latino (2017 to present)

Progreso Latino received a $50,882 Implementation Project annual award* for its Teen & Adult Prevention Program (TAPP), which uses a holistic public health approach to grow the community’s capacity to address intimate partner violence (IPV) in the Blackstone Valley area.

TAPP engages cohorts of adults and youth as social action committees that mobilize around common goals towards social change and policy reform. In partnership with the Blackstone Valley Advocacy Center, Progreso Latino is building on the successes and experiences of its previous DVPF project, continuing to draw from the leadership of survivors and youth and adding a new men’s engagement component.

*The grant period for this Implementation Project is January 2020 through June 2023.

DVPF Project Spotlight

In March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Progreso Latino implemented its COVID-19 Response Plan, comprised of the remote continuation of 12 core programs and the expansion of its on-site Central Falls Food Pantry, a member agency of the RI Community Food Bank. This critical partnership enabled Progreso Latino to respond to the significant increase in the number of households accessing the food pantry as a result of the pandemic, many for the first time.

The CF Food Pantry transformed from a small pantry serving 1,124 households in 2019 into a mass anti-hunger operation serving over 15,000 households in 2020. Progreso Latino continues to serve hundreds of people per week at the pantry.

Progreso Latino also launched a multilingual, culturally responsive communications campaign through its website, social media platforms, and in-person outreach efforts. The campaign focused on raising awareness about Progreso Latino's programs, COVID-19 education and testing, domestic violence prevention and services, employment, housing, financial programs, education, policy and advocacy, the 2020 census, voting and elections. The campaign highlighted the agency's commitment to serve all immigrants, regardless of citizenship or immigration status. These communications have reached thousands of Latino and immigrant families and many other Rhode Islanders.

Progreso Latino’s Adult Social Action Committee, currently made up of 10 to 15 core participants, helps community members build leadership skills and become further involved in the issues impacting their community. Progreso Latino continues to build solidarity with various partner coalitions, such as the Raising RI Coalition and the Coalition for a Multilingual RI, with the goal of connecting Adult Social Action Committee participants to local policy campaigns and change efforts, particularly those that support low-income communities and people impacted by domestic violence. Some of the important policy issues they have discussed and testified on include driver’s licenses for all, health insurance for undocumented children, shorter sentences for juvenile detainees, and a sugary drink policy that would add a SNAP incentive for fruits and vegetables.

Progreso Latino has also developed a leadership toolkit that Blackstone Valley Advocacy Center (BVAC) can provide to survivors of domestic violence who participate in BVAC’s support groups and who are interested in advancing their passion to end domestic violence by strengthening their leadership and advocacy skills.

As part of Progreso Latino’s DVPF Implementation Project, members of their Adult Social Action Committee attend and speak at a State House rally in support of state-level policy that would ensure driver’s licenses for all, including undocumented immigrants.
Sojourner House (2017 to present)

Sojourner House received a $50,882 Implementation Project annual award* to continue implementing the Peer Advocacy Zone (PAZ), in collaboration with Youth In Action, Nathanael Greene Middle School, and Planned Parenthood of Southern New England’s teen peer education program STARS (Students Teaching About Responsible Sexuality).

The Peer Advocacy Zone works with youth-focused organizations and middle and high school students to educate and train young people to become active in the movement to end teen dating violence and sexual assault in their schools and communities. The peer advocates develop and lead awareness projects around violence prevention and provide educational workshops to their peers.

*This annual award amount refers to the 2020-2023 DVPF grant cycle.

In April 2020, during national Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the PAZ students created this poster to promote wearing jeans for Denim Day, a national initiative to raise awareness about rape and sexual assault. The students also participated in a social media selfie campaign to show solidarity with survivors.

I wear jeans on Denim Day because I am showing support for those who are survivors, and those who struggle on a day-to-day basis. Wearing tight jeans is not an invitation to assault, nor should it be an excuse to victim blame.

- Alani, a student at Paul Cuffee School in Providence
YWCA Rhode Island (2017-2019)

YWCA Rhode Island received a $55,000 Implementation Project annual award from 2017 to 2019. Their DVPF project focused on training educators, youth workers, service providers, and community members on the historical and current ways institutional and structural racism impact girls of color and on providing a proven practice for building resiliency in girls.

“Our project recognizes that girls of color are often overlooked when community members, service providers, and educators address issues of gender and racial inequality, and its relationship to intimate partner violence. It is a clarion call to all of our better selves to highlight the unique struggles of girls of color and ask what we as individuals and as part of larger organizations can do to improve our society by raising awareness and focusing on altering norms, polices, and community conditions that impact girls of color.” - Deborah Perry, President/CEO

YWCA Rhode Island provided racial justice training to over 100 people, and also trained 60 youth workers in Girls Circle, an evidence-based prevention program for building resiliency in girls.

Staff from the RICADV and our member agencies attended a 3-day training with YWCA RI
Nowell Academy (2020-2021)

Nowell Academy, a public charter high school serving pregnant and parenting youth, received a $50,284 Implementation Project annual award to launch the school’s Safe and Supported Counseling Center (SSCC), in partnership with Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island.

The SSCC was designed to be a peer-to-peer intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention and response center, with a focus on meeting the needs of unaccompanied minors at risk of IPV. Unaccompanied minors are youth under eighteen years old who have migrated to the country without a lawful status in the U.S. and who have no parent or legal guardian available to care for them. Nowell Academy students would be empowered and trained to provide education, advocacy and support to their peers and receive a stipend as peer counselors.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nowell Academy’s project plans and objectives changed as they navigated challenges such as the shift to distance learning, students’ lack of access to technology, and the disruption of in-person client advocacy services. The peer counselor training curriculum was successfully developed and piloted with a small group of students in the spring of 2020; however, the focus of the project turned to supporting at-risk youth during the crisis in order to decrease the risk factors for IPV.

In early 2021, Nowell Academy’s project pivoted to focus on enhancing students’ social-emotional learning and increasing their awareness and skills in developing and maintaining healthy relationships. The project would continue to implement a model of incentivizing at-risk youth to participate in prevention programs and compensating students for their time through leadership stipends as they became healthy relationship ambassadors within the school community. The Trusting Ties Healthy Relationships Group was piloted in the spring of 2021 with a small cohort of students.

Dorcas International Institute was an active funded partner on Nowell Academy’s project, promoting protective factors among youth who are unaccompanied minors in order to decrease the risk of IPV. Support from the DVPF provided Dorcas International the ability to offer groups for youth clients focused on healthy relationships, positive attitudes and behaviors, and artistic expression and to provide program incentives and stipends.

Nowell Academy’s funding ended in June 2021.

Community Micro-grants

Community Micro-grants are short-term projects that foster and increase community cohesion through public awareness, education, and the arts. The goal of these projects is to help community members make a personal connection to the issue of intimate partner violence prevention and encourage bystanders to take action and get involved in their schools and communities.

2021
2020
2019
2018
2017

Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE) received a $10,000 micro-grant to prevent multiple forms of violence, including teen dating violence and suicide, among Southeast Asian youth through Junior Flames, a student-centered leadership, academic, and social-personal development program for middle school-aged youth.

Progreso Latino received a $7,950 micro-grant to expand its multilingual, culturally responsive health communications campaign and to continue its efforts to address food insecurity among Latinos and immigrants in Rhode Island through the Central Falls Food Pantry.

Youth In Action received a $10,000 micro-grant in support of its work to create spaces for youth to build and practice leadership skills, with a focus on social-emotional support and identity development. Funding supported youth-led Action Groups aiming to create social and systemic change in the community. Action Groups focused on outdoor equity, language justice, ending youth homelessness, and ending domestic violence.

Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE) received a $10,000 micro-grant to address teen dating violence and other forms of intimate partner violence in the Southeast Asian community through its culturally-responsive Hidden Lotus program for high-school aged youth. Program participants developed a video public service announcement (PSA) to be shared with the community and on social media. Hidden Lotus shifted to a hybrid in-person/virtual model to adapt to public health guidance and restrictions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Partnership for Providence Parks received a $7,950 micro-grant to support a 10-week youth-centered Restorative Art program in collaboration with Providence ¡CityArts! for Youth. The program aimed to strengthen youth participants' connection to one another and their community and to build social-emotional skills, such as compassion and communication. The program would culminate in the creation of a community mural. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was not possible to implement the proposed project. The Partnership for Providence Parks pivoted to research, develop, and curate ARTKits! which were take-home kits available at free meal sites throughout the summer. Offering these kits supported the effort to get youth to the meal sites and provided them with meaningful do-it-yourself at-home art-making activities while stay-at-home orders were in effect.

Meeting Street received a $10,000 micro-grant to expand their multi-generational primary prevention programs, in particular to engage middle school-aged boys through the One Circle Foundation's evidence-informed model The Council for Boys and Young Men. Funding also supported Meeting Street in expanding the survivor-led Women's Circle peer support and empowerment group, which includes parents enrolled in the organization's early childhood programs.

Domestic Violence Resource Center (DVRC) received a $4,208 micro-grant to empower young people and promote community-wide understanding and LGBTQ+ acceptance by hosting a Gay Prom, an event that celebrates and elevates awareness of marginalized populations like queer youth in South County.

Meeting Street received a $5,800 micro-grant to develop an intimate partner violence staff training plan to help build the capacity of their staff to support families experiencing violence.

Rhode Island Cross-Campus Learning Collaborative for Sexual Violence Prevention (through Day One) received a $5,000 micro-grant to launch a traveling photography exhibit featuring Kate Ryan’s Signed, X project in April, national Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Adoption Rhode Island received a $13,022 micro-grant to educate youth in the foster care system using the evidence-based curriculum Safe Dates. The goal was for youth to then create an artistic expression of what they learned through Safe Dates to help raise awareness of dating violence in the community.

Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE) received a $15,000 micro-grant to adapt One Circle Foundation’s evidence-based curriculum and offer a culturally responsive, 50-hour group for Southeast Asian youth to discuss healthy relationships, trauma, social and personal development, and communication.

Blackstone Valley Community Action Program received a $9,512 micro-grant to educate high school age youth of varying gender, sexual orientation, religion, race, and national origin in Pawtucket and Central Falls in order to overcome stereotypes and raise education levels in the community about dating violence. The goal was for these youth to in turn provide peer-based training to other youth, and spread knowledge throughout the community.

Elizabeth Buffum Chace Center received a $1,950 micro-grant to deliver the Decoding Your Teen curriculum to foster parents, kinship care providers, group home staff, DCYF social caseworkers, and other caretakers of youth involved in DCYF care.

Katie Brown Educational Program received a $15,000 micro-grant to work with existing student clubs at Central, Classical, Mt. Pleasant, and Hope High Schools and the Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex to aid students in crafting a 30-minute student-led assembly for their peers. Project goals also included developing testimonials, a website, and two “healthy relationship check-in” events for students.

Progreso Latino received a $15,000 micro-grant to offer a Grassroots Film & Discussion Series in Spanish, with a focus on engaging Latino boys and men in the Blackstone Valley area in discussions that explore the role of machismo in domestic violence prevention.

Princes 2 Kings received a $5,000 micro-grant to engage male youth in conversations about healthy masculinity in an effort to develop an educational stop motion animation film addressing teen dating violence.

Youth In Action (YIA) received a $9,755 micro-grant to develop and implement a youth-led film and discussion series for young people in Providence. YIA also trained staff on how to recognize and respond to teen dating violence and make referrals for youth and families experiencing intimate partner violence.

Grant-Making Process

The DVPF supports two categories of funded projects, Implementation Projects and Community Micro-grants.

During the period when grant applications are being accepted, the RICADV will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP). We promote the RFP widely among our networks and share the announcement on our communications platforms. Follow us on social media, and sign up for our email newsletters to make sure you receive updates! The RFP is also posted here on this page of our website.

When the RFP window closes, the RICADV convenes the DVPF Advisory Committee, a legislated committee made up of members of the RICADV’s Board of Directors, as well as directors of several state departments, including the department of health, the department of human services, the office of the attorney general, and the office of the general treasurer, or their designees.

The Advisory Committee reviews all proposals and makes decisions on the awards. The RICADV provides technical assistance and support to the committee and does not have a voting seat.

History of the DVPF

The Domestic Violence Prevention Fund (DVPF) was established by the Rhode Island General Assembly in 2016. It was renamed the Deborah DeBare DVPF in 2018, in honor of the RICADV’s longstanding executive director Deborah DeBare, who led the coalition for 22 years.

By passing the DVPF legislation (R.I.G.L. § 12-29-12), the General Assembly created a fund with the primary purpose of preventing intimate partner violence (IPV), which includes domestic violence and dating abuse. This is the first state funding of its kind and the only state-level funding available in Rhode Island to address the prevention of IPV.

The DVPF is administered by the RICADV and funds evidence-informed primary prevention programs in Rhode Island. Primary prevention aims to stop IPV before it starts, to prevent people from ever becoming victims or perpetrators of abuse.

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FP Hotline - Visible Phone

Domestic Violence Prevention Fund

Grantees

Progreso Latino (2017 to present)

Sojourner House (2017 to present)

YWCA Rhode Island (2017-2019)

Nowell Academy (2020-2021)

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017