ombrocisDisabilitiesNEWsupportstatementMarch2025

Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission
Semiannual Performance Report for the Training and Services to End Violence
and Abuse Against Individuals with Disabilities and Deaf People Program
A. Justification
1.

Statutorily Mandated Need for Information

The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) is responsible for improving the
Nation’s response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking through the
implementation of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) as amended and
reauthorized in 2000, 2005, 2013 and 2022. OVW’s mission is to provide federal leadership in
developing the nation’s capacity to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault,
and stalking and administer justice for and strengthen services to victims of those crimes. To
accomplish this mission, OVW administers federal grant programs that support communities
around the country that are creating programs, policies, and practices aimed at these crimes.
The Grants for Training and Services to End Violence Against Individuals with
Disabilities and Deaf People Program (Disability Grant Program) seeks to create sustainable
change within and between organizations that improves the response to individuals with
disabilities and Deaf individuals who are victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating
violence, and stalking and to hold perpetrators of such crimes accountable. The program was
created by Congress to address the pressing need to focus on sexual assault, domestic violence,
dating violence, and stalking against individuals with disabilities and Deaf individuals due to the
proliferation of such crimes.
Disability Grant Program funds are used to establish and strengthen multidisciplinary
collaborative relationships; increase organizational capacity to provide accessible, safe, and
effective services to individuals with disabilities and Deaf individuals who are victims of
violence and abuse; identify needs within the grantee’s organization and/or service area; and
develop a plan to address those identified needs that builds a strong foundation for future work.
Eligible applicants are limited to states; units of local government; Indian tribal governments or
tribal organizations; and victim service providers, such as state or tribal domestic violence or
sexual assault coalitions or nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations serving individuals with
disabilities. This program is authorized by 34 U.S.C. § 20122.
Currently, there are different statutory and regulatory reporting requirements that affect
Disability Program grantees. VAWA requires all grantees, including Disability Program
grantees, to report on the effectiveness of their programs to the Attorney General who, in turn,
must report to Congress every two years. Section 1003 of VAWA 2000 states that
(a) REPORT BY GRANT RECIPIENTS.- The Attorney General or Secretary of
Health and Human Services, as applicable, shall require grantees under any
program authorized or reauthorized by this division or an amendment made by
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this division to report on the effectiveness of the activities carried out with
amounts made available to carry out that program, including number of persons
served, if applicable, numbers of persons seeking services who could not be
served and such other information as the Attorney General or Secretary may
prescribe.
(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.- The Attorney General or Secretary of
Health and Human Services, as applicable, shall report biennially to the
Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the
Senate on the grant programs described in subsection (a), including the
information contained in any report under that subsection.
34 U.S.C. §10228.
OVW must also comply with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993
(GPRA) (Pub. L. 103-62) which was enacted to increase Congressional and Administrative focus
on the results from government programs and activities. To meet its GPRA reporting obligations
and elicit more meaningful information about grantee performance, OVW has recently
developed performance measures, including output measures, regarding which the Disability
Program grantees must report on a semiannual basis.
2.

Use of Information

OVW uses data from the information collection 1 in different ways. OVW will use the
information collected from Disability Program grantees to monitor their grant-funded activities
and qualitatively assess those activities. In particular, OVW is seeking data that includes baseline
information to review activities supported with Disability Program funds, including, for example,
an increase in the number of trainings or an increase in the number of victims served. OVW will
review each semiannual performance report to monitor individual grantee’s performance,
including the grant-funded activities and to ensure that the goals and objectives set forth in
applications for funding and award documents are met.
The Disability Program grantees collect information that addresses the following grantfunded activities (different sections on the reporting form): staff, statutory purpose areas,
training, and victim services. Narrative questions at the end of these different sections enable
grantees to give more detailed qualitative information about their grant-funded activities. In
addition, grantees must answer narrative questions on the most significant areas of remaining
1 Under a cooperative agreement between OVW and the University of Southern Maine’s
Muskie School of Public Service, data collected from OVW grantees on all of OVW’s
performance report forms is transmitted to the Muskie School for analysis. For the analysis of the
data, standard descriptive statistics (frequency, sum, percentage, mean, etc.) are used to describe
the characteristics of the grantees and report basic findings. All analyses are conducted in SPSS
13.0.
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need with regard to improving services to victims/survivors, increasing victims/survivors safety,
and enhancing community response, what has federal funding allowed the grantee to do that
grantee could not do prior to receiving funding, additional information about the Disability
Program grant and/or the effectiveness of the grant and any additional information about the data
submitted.
In addition to the proposed information collection, OVW will continue to use a number of
other techniques to assess the performance of Disability Program grantees. These may include
OVW staff attendance at site visits, grant-funded training and technical assistance events, staff
review of products prior to dissemination, and ongoing consultation with OVW staff.
OVW will aggregate data from all grantees’ performance reports to assess the performance
of the Disability Program as a whole and to respond to Congressional, Department of Justice,
and other inquiries about how Disability Program funds are being used. In addition, information
collected from grantees will support the following performance measures:
Number of victims receiving requested services;
Number of policies developed /revised;
Number of communities with improved CCR (community coordinated responses);
Number of grant funded training events;and
Number of professionals trained to respond to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault
and stalking;
Information collected from Disability Program grantees will enable OVW to respond to statutory
requirements to report on the effectiveness of grant-funded activities. OVW has submitted the
2024 Measuring Effectiveness Report to Congress, which includes information about how funds
were expended and an assessment of the effectiveness of funded programs. This report is based
on data submitted by grantees reflecting Disability Program awards made and the Disability
Program‐funded activities engaged in from July to December 2024 and from January to June
2022.
The data that OVW collects on the semiannual performance reporting forms is currently not
used in connection with an evaluation of the Disability Program. OVW is currently exploring the
development of a multi-layered evaluation agenda for its grant programs.
It is important that OVW collect this information from Disability Program grantees on a
semiannual basis so that OVW can ensure that they are performing within the statutory
limitations of the program in a timely manner. Because OVW is not able to perform site visits
with every Disability Program grantee, the review of performance reports every six months
enables OVW to monitor grantees in timely manner.
3.

Use of Information Technology

The collection of information will involve the use of automated, electronic, mechanical or
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology. OVW
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grantees are required to submit semiannual performance reports through the Just Grants System.
4.

Duplication of Information Request

There is no other mechanism by which OVW collects information about grant funded
activities including number of victims served, victims seeking services who could not be served,
or persons trained.
5.

Impact on Small Entities

There is no impact on small entities as the collection of this type of information is
routinely kept by most grantees receiving funds under the Disability Program.
6.

Consequences to Federal Programs or Policy

By statute, Congress has mandated that Disability Program grantees report to the
Attorney General on the effectiveness of their activities funded under VAWA. If OVW was not
able to collect the information necessary to complete these reports on behalf of the Attorney
General, not only would it be failing to meet a statutorily required reporting mandate, but also
the existence of this important and necessary grant program could be jeopardized.
7.

Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances as identified in the specific instructions for a
supporting statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.
8.

Federal Register Publication

OVW has consulted with persons outside the agency who have advised that the data
proposed to be collected is available, the semiannual collection of such data is not burdensome,
the form is clear, and that the information is routinely kept by most grantees receiving funds
under the Disability Program. OVW has solicited public comment on this form in accordance
with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act. A 60 day notice was published in the
Federal Register on December 2, 2024, (Federal Register, Volume 89, page 95239) and a 30-day
was notice was published in the Federal Register on
, 2025 (Federal Register, Volume ,
page ). OVW did not receive any public comments.
9.

Payment or Gift to Respondents
There will no payment or gift to respondents.

10.

Confidentiality

Although this information is needed for a public report to Congress, it will not involve
any personal information about victims that could identify them as specific individuals.
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However, anecdotal, non-identifying information about the effectiveness of individual programs
may be included in the report. There is no assurance to confidentiality.
11.

Specific Questions

The semiannual performance report will not contain any questions of a personal, sensitive
nature such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are
commonly considered private.
12.

Hour Burden of the Collection of Information

This semiannual performance report is not overly burdensome. The data collection tool
will be completed by approximately 18 Disability Program grantees twice a year. There will be
36 semiannual responses, and it is estimated that it will take grantees no more than 1 hour to
complete the performance report form. Thus, the annual reporting and recordkeeping hour
burden is 36 hours. Disability Program grantees are informed about the reporting requirements
during the grant solicitation process and during the grant award process.
OVW is seeking basic information that is routinely kept by the grantees in the normal
course of their operations. Thus, the requirement that grantees complete this performance report
within a period of less than 30 days after receipt of it is not overly burdensome. OVW estimates
that it will take approximately 1 hour for a grantee to complete the form. OVW developed this
estimate based on the fact that information of this nature is already kept by grantees receiving
funds under the Disability Program and that the grantees have been apprized of these reporting
requirements during the solicitation process and reminded throughout the grant award process.
The performance report is divided into sections that pertain to the different types of activities that
grantees may engage in, i.e. training, product development, victim services. Grantees will only
have to complete the sections of the form that relate to their specific grant-funded activities.
13.

Cost Burden of the Collection of Information

OVW does not believe that there is any semiannual cost burden on respondents or
recordkeepers resulting from the collection of this information.
14.

Annualized Costs to the Federal Government

The annualized costs to the Federal Government resulting from the OVW staff review of
the performance reports submitted by grantees are estimated to be $2016.
15.

Program Changes or Adjustments

There are no program changes or adjustments for the estimates identified in Section 13
and in Section 14. This is an information collection that is necessary for OVW and its Disability
Program grantees to comply with the statutory reporting requirements and the Government
Performance and Results Act of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-62).
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16.

Published Results of Information Collections

There will be no complex analytical techniques used in connection with the publication
of information collected under the request. Information will be gathered twice a year at the end
of the reporting periods. OVW is statutorily required to submit a report on the effectiveness of
all grant-funded activities on a biennial basis.
17.

Display of the Expiration Date of OMB Approval

OVW will display the Expiration Date of OMB Approval in the upper right-hand corner
of the Performance Report.
18.

Exception to the Certification Statement

OVW is not seeking any exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19,
Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions, of OMB Form 83-I.

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