Deadline: 5 July 2018

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) are seeking applications to develop or enhance multidisciplinary human trafficking task forces within the United States.

The purpose of the Enhanced Collaborative Model Task Force To Combat Human Trafficking program is to assist communities in developing effective and sustainable multidisciplinary task forces that will implement victim-centered and coordinated approaches to identifying victims of sex and labor trafficking, addressing the individualized needs of victims through services, and investigating and prosecuting sex and labor trafficking cases (as well as the purchasers of commercial sex) at the local, state, tribal, and federal levels.

Purpose Areas

OVC and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) will make awards to support law enforcement and victim service provider efforts within human trafficking task forces under the following purpose areas (PAs):

• Purpose Area 1: Development of Human Trafficking Task Forces
  • Grant amount: Each cooperative agreement (one for a law enforcement agency and one for a victim service provider within each task force) will be for between $500,000 and $700,000. Combined federal funds to each task force may not exceed $1.2 million.
  • Project period: 3 years
  • Purpose Area 1 eligibility: Applicants under Purpose Area 1 include, but are not limited to, human trafficking task forces that have recently formed or are still in the process of formalizing task force structure and protocols. Task forces that have never received funding under the OVC/BJA Enhanced Collaborative Model Task Force Program or those that last received funding under this program in FY 2013 or earlier are eligible to apply. Task forces who received funding in FY 2015 or later are not eligible to apply under this purpose area.
• Purpose Area 2: Increasing Human Trafficking Task Force Effectiveness
  • Grant amount: Each cooperative agreement (one for a law enforcement agency and one for a victim service provider) will be between $600,000 and $900,000. Federal funds to each task force will not exceed $1.5 million.
  • Project period: 3 years
  • Purpose Area 2 eligibility: Eligible applicants are human trafficking task forces that were funded in FY 2015 under the OVC/BJA Enhanced Collaborative Model Task Force Program— Purpose Area 1. These applicants have received 3 years of funding under the Enhanced Collaborative Model Program to support their newly established task forces. FY 2018 Purpose Area 2 allows FY 2015 task forces to compete for funding to support continued task force activities and develop a plan for task force sustainability. Task forces funded in FY 2016 or FY 2017 are not eligible to apply under this purpose area.
• Purpose Area 3: Expanding Human Trafficking Task Force Effectiveness
  • Grant amount: Each cooperative agreement (one for a law enforcement agency and one for a victim service provider) will be between $600,000 and $900,000. Federal funds to each task force will not exceed $1.5 million.
  • Project period: 3 years
  • Purpose Area 3 eligibility: Eligible applicants are human trafficking task forces that were funded in FY 2015 under the OVC/BJA Enhanced Collaborative Model Task Force Program— Purpose Area 2. These task forces have had several years of funding under the Enhanced Collaborative Model Task Force Program, have strong task force leadership and structure, and have a long history of identifying trafficking victims and prosecuting traffickers. FY 2018 Purpose Area 3 allows FY 2015 task forces to compete for funding to expand their task force efforts, implement task force sustainability plans, and assist OVC and BJA in building the capacity of other task forces in the field by providing mentoring and peer support to newly established task forces.

Eligibility Criteria

• By statute, grants under this program may be awarded to states; units of local government; federally recognized Indian tribal governments (as recognized by the Secretary of the Interior); nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations (including tribal nonprofit and nongovernment organizations); and state and local law enforcement agencies. For the purposes of this program, a unit of local government is any city, county, township, town borough, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a state or territory.
• Eligible applicants are only law enforcement agencies and victim service providers located and operating within the community, jurisdiction, or geographic area of the human trafficking task force specified within the application.
• Applicants that are nonprofit organizations must be organizations described in 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3) and exempt from taxation under 26 U.S.C. § 501(a). Nonprofit organizations that hold money in offshore accounts for the purpose of avoiding paying the tax described in 26 U.S.C. § 511(a) are not eligible to apply.

How to Apply

Applicants can apply via given website.

For more information, please visit Grants.gov.