The Improving Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking (ICJR) Grant Program at the Office of Violence Against Women is seeking peer reviewers. All applications are due by Feb. 10th at 5 pm EST to Jason Petry at Jason.Petry@usdoj.gov
Peer reviewers are an important part of the application review process for OVW. All applications that meet the basic minimum requirements to be eligible for funding are reviewed and scored by peer reviewers who operate in teams of three. In this way, it is not OVW staff scoring applications but those in the field with current knowledge and experience working with domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and/or stalking. Peer reviewers generally know the VAWA crimes, as I mentioned, but that knowledge and experience can and should vary significantly. We utilize victim advocates, law enforcement, prosecutors, SANE nurses, judges, and grant administrators, among others, in our peer review process. The ICJR program, given its focus on improving the criminal justice response to VAWA crimes and our desire to increase the number of SANE and sexual assault-focused grantees we fund, needs experienced SANEs to participate in our peer review process.
ICJR peer review will be conducted in person in Washington, DC, this spring, with dates yet to be finalized, and generally last for three days. Peer reviewers operate in teams of 3. Each reviewer scores applications using an established scoring matrix, then meet to come to a consensus on the final score for each assigned application. Travel expenses are paid for all peer reviewers; they also receive a stipend for each application they review. Peer reviewers can be current OVW grantees. Reviewers cannot review for ICJR if they are applying for an ICJR award in the same year.
If someone is interested in being a peer reviewer for ICJR they need to email Jason.Petry@usdoj.gov a copy of their resume.
OVW will evaluate their background and experience and determine if they are eligible to be considered; we will contact all eligible peer reviewers in the coming weeks to begin scheduling. Contact:
Jason Petry Jason.Petry@usdoj.gov
Grant Management Specialist
U.S. Department of Justice
Office on Violence Against Women
145 N. St. Suite 10W
Washington, DC. 20850
202-856-2218