2002 State of Georgia Violence Against Women Act Implementation Plan A Comprehensive Strategy for Addressing Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking through the VAWA Grant Program A Report of the Office of the Governor Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Atlanta, Georgia L. Gale Buckner, Executive Director June 20, 2002 INTRODUCTION The Office of the Governor Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (Council) enters the Year 2002 with an even stronger commitment in expanding its contribution to achieving goals and objectives aimed at providing assistance to female victims of crime. This effort burgeons in large part due to the STOP Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Implementation Plan. The Implementation Planning Team's hands on experience and the Council's steady, on-going refinement of this plan, facilitates a road map leading to effective strategies for addressing violence against women in Georgia. Vision Georgia will become a leading state in creating safe and secure environments for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The current plan continues to link actions and results. The VAWA Planning Team (Appendix A) has assisted with this effort, and their work represents clear testament of their commitment to improving victim services. The team reviewed the 2001 Implementation Plan and recognized appropriate corrective measures for 2002. As a result, the current Plan embodies the following: ,, Overview of the Planning Process ,, Documentation from Participating Organizations Involved in the Plan's Development ,, Major Shifts in Direction ,, Methodology for Distributing Funds Across Agency Funding Categories ,, Methodology for Evaluating Grant Funded Activities ,, Methodology for Meeting VAWA Priorities ,, Coordination and Training Efforts Overview of the Planning Process This year's planning process commenced with an assessment of existing projects, a review of the recommended funding strategy, and discussion by the 2002 Planning Team pertaining to the future of program funding under VAWA. The strategy was based on the Crime Victim Assistance Advisory Committee's adoption of a policy in April 1998 to reduce federal funding for law enforcement and prosecution projects over a four year time period. Figure 1-A represents the model for the reductions during each year. Year 1: Year 2: Year 3: Year 4: Base Year Federal Funding Established Maximum of 75% of Base Year Federal Funding Provided Maximum of 50% of Base Year Federal Funding Provided Maximum of 50% of Base year Federal Funding FOUR YEAR RULE Funding Strategy for Law Enforcement and Prosecution Projects Figure 1-A It should be noted that the 2002 Planning Team supports the continuation of the current strategy of establishing a floor of $35,000 for law enforcement projects and $50,000 for prosecution projects. Projects in either category will not be reduced below these respective amounts. The funding strategy remains, as it has proven effective in curtailing the following: ,, Large projects in the law enforcement and prosecution categories consuming a majority of the funding allocated. ,, Several projects requesting increased amounts of funding without any incentive to seek additional local funding. The strategy has also continued, because it allows minimal staff to maintain a viable project, even at reduced funding levels. The Planning Team and the Council are cognizant of the fact that nonprofit organizations typically do not have the same level of access to alternative funding as law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies. Typically, nonprofit projects request smaller funding amounts and do not limit the possibility of new and innovative projects each year. It was for these State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 3 reasons the Planning Team agreed to continue to exclude nonprofit organizations from the Four Year Rule imposed on law enforcement and prosecution projects. To complement this strategy, the Council will coordinate the VOCA and VAWA applications and require agencies, where possible, to limit their requests to one application per grant program. The Need for Grant Funds The need for grant funds to assist in addressing violence against women in Georgia is clear. Consider for example the fact that approximately thirty percent of women ages 15 to 44 will be physically abused at least once by their partners during their lifetimes (Georgia Commission on Family Violence). Statistics also indicate that approximately sixty-four percent of domestic violence victims are married to their abusers (Georgia Department of Human Resources, Office of Communications). GEORGIA STATISTICS More than 18,000 cases of family violence (spouse or former spouse) were responded to by Georgia law enforcement in 1999 alone. 65,171 crisis calls were made across the state in 2000. Law enforcement reported 56,339 cases of domestic violence cases in 2000. Children were present in over 20,000 of these incidents and were involved in over 21% of the total occurrences. Injuries resulted from firearms, knives, and other weapons in more than half of the reported cases. There is a rate of 29 rapes (including felony-level sexual assaults) for every 100,000 residents. Health surveys report that as many as one out of every six Georgia women between the ages of 15 and 44 has experienced sexual intercourse against her will. A recent sexual assault survey research project revealed that rape crisis program directors in Georgia report that they serve an average of 3.5 counties and deal with an average of ten law enforcement agencies, all with an average of 2.5 full-time employees. *Statistics gathered from the Georgia Commission on Family Violence, Georgia Department of Human Resources, and a Sexual Assault Survey Research Project sponsored by the Council. State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 4 Figure 2-A Giving further credence to the call for funding and continuation of projects under VAWA is the range of requests from the various regions throughout the State and the numerous applications falling within the specified funding categories. The Council received $5,639,133 in funding requests for the $3,190,491 in funding available for awards in 2000 and $4,125,511 in funding requests for the $2,697,046 in funding available for awards in 2001. Projects ranged from requests for domestic violence investigators for prosecutors and law enforcement to victim advocate outreach programs for parts of Rural Georgia. Intended Use of Grant Funds The intended use of grant funds is established each year in the Request for Proposal process when all applications are competitively reviewed. However, since the Council has established that existing successful projects receive priority, an overview of the most common types of projects is provided by funding category in the following sections. Expected results from these types of projects are stated, followed by a discussion of the types of demographic characteristics of the populations to be served. Lastly, it should be noted that one additional intention of grant funding for law enforcement and prosecution projects is to develop awareness among local government officials regarding the project, so that as grant funds are phased out, the local governmental entity will increase funding in order to continuously support the project. 'Law Enforcement Existing law enforcement projects typically focus on providing agencies with officers who are only responsible for their particular project area. These are primarily domestic violence teams that respond to all domestic violence calls in their jurisdiction. Consequently, the officers are familiar with the individual incidents of domestic violence and can respond more appropriately, especially in the instances of a second or multiple domestic violence call to the same residence. In order to assure that these officers are trained appropriately, they are required to complete a domestic violence curriculum for law enforcement as part of the special conditions of the subgrant. During the 2001-2002 Grant Year, approximately 39 of these training courses were offered to 1,057 law enforcement officers throughout the State. This effort was undertaken through a VAWA Subgrant with a nonprofit organization which provides certified trainers in the area of domestic violence. This grant year, the Council funded the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police and the Georgia Sheriff's Association to continue with the law enforcement training efforts. These trainings are available for new projects, and those non-grant funded law enforcement agencies requesting such training. Often times, a law enforcement agency may wish to increase the training of its officers in a particular discipline such as domestic violence but does not have State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 5 travel and/or training funds to send the officers to one of Georgia's academies. The project is promising in that it provides free training to law enforcement in each region of the State at little or no travel cost. The Council sponsored a law enforcement track at the Ninth Annual Victims Conference held April 30 - May 2, 2002. This training, funded by VAWA and VOCA, provided up to 14 hours of P.O.S.T. (Peace Officer Standards and Training Council) Credit to 91 certified law enforcement officers. Attending officers could also seek cross training in the six additional tracks offered (Prosecution, Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Underserved, and Leadership). A sample of the courses include the following: Disciplining Peace Officers Accused of Domestic Violence Understanding Female Adolescent Sexual Exploitation Children Who Witness Domestic Violence SANE and It's Effect on Southwest Georgia Stop the Stalker Figure 3-A The expected results for the majority of law enforcement projects funded is to improve response to domestic violence victims through increased staffing levels for this area of enforcement and the availability of specialized trainings throughout the State. The anticipated results are that law enforcement will respond more effectively to domestic violence calls and subsequently reduce the number of multiple calls to the same residence by early intervention, which in turn will also reduce the amount of domestic violence related homicides. In order to make law enforcement aware of the services available, and to further the expected results, each law enforcement project of this type has a special condition that requires an interagency agreement of cooperation with any non-profit victim services organization providing services for domestic violence victims in the area. 'Prosecution Existing prosecution projects also primarily focus on domestic violence. However, the focus is on the investigation and prosecution of known offenders. These projects typically employ a special prosecutor whose responsibility is to prosecute all domestic violence cases in a particular jurisdiction. The methodology is that domestic violence cases are often lost in the system when cases are assigned to various prosecutors. By assigning all domestic violence cases to a prosecutor and/or team of prosecutors in larger jurisdictions, a repeat offender will be known to the prosecutor and more stringent efforts and/or sentences for the offender will be sought due to the case history. In addition, most of the State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 6 prosecution projects, depending upon the size of the project, have investigators as part of the project who work with law enforcement to gather information for prosecution. Due to their case loads, law enforcement and prosecution alike, do not typically have enough time to investigate cases of domestic violence. By hiring prosecutors and investigators whose sole responsibility is the investigation and prosecution of domestic violence cases, a better case is presented and more offenders are found guilty and/or plead due to the amount and quality of evidence gathered. The expected results of projects of this type are to increase the number of successful prosecution of domestic violence offenders through improved investigation and additional prosecutorial resources. To assure these projects receive proper training, a special condition of their grant requires all applicable staff to attend project related curriculum training. Further, these projects are required to have interagency agreements with nonprofit victim service organizations so that victims can be adequately referred for treatment and receive any services available. 'Nonprofit Nongovernmental Victim Services The nonprofit projects are often difficult to describe, due to the diversity among the projects. However, these projects share one commonality--they provide services to victims in their local area and, in some instances, surrounding counties. The two basic project initiatives are outreach to neighboring counties and increased local services. Victim services cover both aspects of VAWA purpose areas of domestic violence and sexual assault, compared to the law enforcement and prosecution projects whose focus is primarily domestic violence. The nonprofit projects provide referrals, counseling, shelter for domestic violence victims, and advocates for assistance with the criminal justice process in both victim categories. The demographic characteristics of these projects are examined as a whole, as most of the State is covered with these services. (If not directly through an individual project, then indirectly through one of the coalitions and/or training projects which are funded). In addition, the VOCA projects provide more statewide focus, although there are still several rural areas of the State where few services are readily available. One additional priority in the area of nonprofit nongovernmental victim services is the provision of legal services for domestic violence victims. The issue of legal assistance is important, because it affects nonprofit organizations providing services to domestic violence victims. In past years, few resources have been available for legal assistance due to its expense, and there is a limitation of grant funds under VOCA and VAWA in regard to the exact legal services that can be provided. In addition, two other funding sources continue to be available. The State of Georgia's FY 2001 Budget allocated funding for legal assistance purposes at the request of the Chief Justice of Georgia's Supreme Court, and discretionary funding under VAWA Civil Legal Assistance Grant was received by Atlanta Legal Aid in the amount of $266,024 for legal service initiatives. The Council will continue to coordinate with these projects and support those that compliment the VAWA State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 7 Implementation Plan. 'Court Services Projects which were funded under VAWA for the Court Services category are the Atlanta Municipal Court and the Georgia Commission on Family Violence. The Atlanta Municipal Court program is a Temporary Protective Order assistance program which was established to aid and assist those victims of domestic violence in obtaining the necessary legal protective order(s). The Georgia Commission on Family Violence project is a statewide outreach program which is geared towards establishing coordinated community response efforts for family violence crimes. 'Undesignated Projects These funds are divided among other categories with the majority being utilized by nonprofit organizations. Planning Meeting The 2002 Planning meeting was scheduled for the purpose of discussing the aforementioned funding strategy. Attending members comprised nine representatives from different participatory agencies and six Council staff members, as described in the attached minutes of the meeting (Appendix B). Spreadsheets were distributed detailing current funding levels and amounts available for distribution based on the existing plan being continued. Team members had to review the allocation plan and provide their input concerning strategies for facilitating new projects. The following was discussed by the members concerning the 2002 VAWA Grant. @The team discussed their concerns about not being able to use VOCA funding to assist in supporting new projects. However, the members expressed satisfaction regarding the need for continued training for law enforcement, probation officers, and victim services staff. @The team was updated on the status of the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Grant. The Council was awarded $550,000 during FY 2000 which funded four sites to provide assistance to battered women and children in rural counties where victims experience great difficulty in accessing services. An application was submitted for continued funding in the 2001-2002 Grant Year and funding was awarded in the amount of $200,000. @House Bill 1142 was passed by the Georgia General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor on May 13,2002. Victims of vehicular homicide, serious injury by vehicle, and hit and run may be eligible for compensation if the crime occurred on or after May 13, 2002. Another expense that became eligible for compensation is crime scene clean-up. Violent crimes that occur on private property on or after the aforementioned date will be eligible for crime scene clean-up compensation. New categorical caps became effective for crimes State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 8 occurring on or after May 13, 2002. They are as follows: Lost Wages, Loss of Support - $10,000 Medical Expenses - $15,000 Counseling Expenses - $3,000 Crime Scene Clean-up - $1,500 @Team members discussed legislation passed during the previous legislative session which required clerks of the court to submit to the Council a monthly financial report which states the amount collected from criminal fines utilized to support programs. This provides further assistance with funding decisions and strategic planning efforts for both the VAWA and VOCA Grants. @Per discussion, the need for a funding strategy to support new VAWA projects despite expected federal funding cuts is needed. An evaluation of existing projects remains an effective way of ensuring that projects serving an appropriate number of victims within their respective service areas. @Multiple colleges and universities were notified of grant opportunities through VAWA for Violence Against Women on Campus' grants. Request for Proposal Process The Request for Proposal process in Georgia is important for strategic planning as it drives the distribution of funding. Georgia's funding is competitively awarded annually to allow the VOCA and VAWA programs to complement one another and be utilized by agencies best demonstrating their project meets the needs of the state and the goals and objectives of the overall grant program(s). This process typically gives priority to existing successful projects that are seeking continuation funding for initiatives begun in previous grant years. In Georgia, this is best accomplished by comparing the proposal to the Council's most applicable grant programs' goals and objectives. This strategy facilitates recommendations that serve Georgia's citizens appropriately and meet the overall goals for victim services in the State. This is primarily the process for 2002 VAWA funding. The existing projects represent recommendations that were established as a result of statewide planning efforts including regional application and technical workshops and ongoing consultation with the three statewide victims groups that represent the majority of domestic violence and sexual assault victim services. These victim service groups, the Georgia Coalition on Domestic Violence; the Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault (GNESA); and the Georgia Commission on Family Violence, are the primary policy makers concerning victim services in the VAWA identified purpose areas. The existing projects are identified in the recommended allocation plan, Appendix B. The spreadsheet allocates all of the law enforcement portions of the 2002 funding, as well as State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 9 a portion of the victim services, prosecution, and undesignated funds to the continuation of new projects. While existing projects will be funded solely under the VAWA Grant, new projects in prosecution and court services categories will be possible due to the coordination of both VAWA and VOCA funding. Due to the decrease in the federal VAWA award, new victim services projects will not be funded. Previously, the increase in VOCA funding in recent years has provided the Council with a unique opportunity of supporting new projects that may have otherwise been subject to funding limitations. During the application process, each Request for Proposal is read by at least two staff members and appropriate review notes made for discussion purposes. The projects are then reviewed with those staff members and supervisory staff before a final recommendation is made and formally written in a Review Template. Projects are reviewed for their goals and objectives which are then compared to the proposal's statement of need for services. The proposal is compared by staff to other existing projects in the area and against Federal Guidelines for the grant program. The staff person then compares the budget to the proposed project activities for reasonableness and makes any adjustments believed necessary, either for eligibility and/or financial feasibility given available funding. Each review is then discussed at an Ad hoc Committee of staff members before a final review recommendation is completed. This review process allows each individual proposal to be reviewed and compared to allow for the best use of funding available given each grant program's guidelines and purpose. The reviews are then combined into a spreadsheet for an overall grant recommendation for each program. The spreadsheet for each program and the individual reviews are provided to each Council Committee member prior to a meeting. The Committee then discusses any questions or concerns regarding the proposals. Staff is available to answer any questions regarding project reviews. A final recommendation list is comprised and voted on by the Committee. This list of recommendations is sent to the Governor's Office for final approval before awards are made. Once the Governor's Office provides the Council with the final recommendations, award packages are distributed. Documentation from Participating Organizations in Plan Development Two documents are provided to demonstrate documentation of participation by Nonprofit Victim Services Organizations, Law Enforcement, Prosecution, and other Criminal Justice Professionals; the Planning Committee minutes and letters of participation and support from nonprofit victim service organizations (Appendix B and Appendix C). Planning Committee Minutes These minutes demonstrate that select nonprofit groups from the sexual assault and domestic violence community were involved in the process. The minutes are provided in Appendix B and show that the committee made recommendations that will ultimately be considered for approval or disapproval by the Council's Crime Victims Assistance Advisory State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 10 Committee. Additionally, the minutes illustrate the participation and the due consideration that all nonprofit organizations receive in planning initiatives. Although this is the only official documented meeting in 2002, the staff did meet and were available at several other times throughout the year. For example, the Director of the Council serves on the Georgia Commission on Family Violence which meets various times throughout the year and discusses victim-related issues. This Commission has a significant impact on the provision of services to victims through the development of specific protocols for law enforcement, prosecution, the judiciary, and the medical and mental health professions. All law enforcement and prosecution projects receiving VAWA funds are encouraged to follow the Commission's Family Violence Guidelines. These individual meetings have facilitated the Council's efforts of strategic planning for the VAWA Grant by providing great insight into each organization's concerns which are considered in final funding recommendations. Finally, the Council sponsors a Victim Assistance Training Conference each year consisting of more than 600 participants including law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and victim advocates. The Council's Ninth Annual Victims Conference was held April 30- May 2, 2002. Many of the participants considered the conference an opportunity to receive training, network, and share ideas. Special guests included Georgia Lt. Governor Mark Taylor and Georgia's Attorney General Thurbert Baker. Participants have the opportunity to obtain POST, Continuing Legal Education and professional counseling credits. The Council has been able to use this time as an opportunity to receive input for the planning process. Major Shifts in Direction of the Plan For the 2001-02 Grant Year, the major shift in the direction of the plan is the addition of the five percent allocated to court projects. This allocation will invite new court initiatives. The State of Georgia is preparing for the "40/60" switch. Where the formula for VOCA compensation grants has been based on 40 percent of the state payments to crime victims in a previous year. This percentage will increase to 60 percent in fiscal year 2003. This will decrease funding by potentially 15% for victim assistance grants in Federal Fiscal year 2003. Therefore, new VOCA initiatives were not considered for funding in the current year to assure stabilization of services in the future. GNESA has comprised the Council's largest VAWA project. Federal earmarks for state coalitions will be granted to GNESA, allowing the Council to decrease their project award amount. This, too, will help compensate the Council's decreased federal award and will assist in continued funding for other projects. State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 11 Methodology for Distributing Grant Funds Across Agency Funding Categories The fund distribution is basically addressed by allocating funds to each agency categorically and tracking individual projects against the available balance for each categorical limit. Some projects are split across categories, such as investigators from law enforcement working with prosecutors and victim advocates. In these instances, the project's funds are split by percentage of use by each appropriate category. The majority of undesignated funding is put toward nonprofit victim services, as there is more demand for funding from these organizations. Methodology for Evaluating Grant Funded Activities The process of evaluation for grant funded projects is two-fold. First, projects are evaluated to ensure financial compliance. Experienced financial auditors review assigned projects on either a monthly or quarterly basis to verify fiscal accountability. Additionally, auditors check to confirm that costs charged to a said project are appropriate and reasonable, allocable and within the constraints of the approved budget. Since the Council awards its funds to VOCA and VAWA subrecipients on a reimbursement basis, the financial review process is thorough and comprehensive. Documentation such as time sheets, payroll journals, invoices, and so forth are required to adequately support each request for reimbursement of funds. This type of review allows Council staff to establish a sound working knowledge of a project's financial needs and resources, thus enabling that staff member to sufficiently monitor said project's financial status throughout the grant period. The second phase of the evaluation process is to determine whether or not projects funded under the VAWA Program are in compliance with the programmatic aspects as stipulated under the Program Guidelines. This responsibility is performed by the Council's Planner/Evaluator for Victim Services and consists of a five step process. The First Step in the process is for the Program Evaluator to establish a viable evaluation component (i.e., goals, objectives, activities, and performance measures) for each project funded under the VAWA Program. The information for this component is collected from the subrecipient's RFP as well as subsequent contacts with the subrecipient as needed. Step Two occurs when the Program Evaluator distributes the designated Subgrant Award and Performance Report to each subrecipient. The Council requires that each subrecipient submit an annual performance report. In Step Three, the Program Evaluator compares the data identified in the evaluation component to the data provided in the Performance Report. The Evaluator is trying to ascertain whether or not there is a direct correlation between the provided information and the project's evaluation component. Completion of Step Four will result in the Planner/Evaluator advising the subrecipient of their compliance or noncompliance with the attached Special Conditions to the Subgrant Agreement, regarding statistical analysis and programmatic monitoring such as compliance with memorandums State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 12 of understanding and attendance at required trainings. Also, this step could result in a request for additional information not requested and/or provided on the Performance Report. The final step in this process is to collect and disseminate all required information to the Violence Against Women Grants Office in a timely manner. In addition to providing the required information, the Council will put together an Annual Report that accurately reflects what the program has accomplished in the past year in relation to the strategy outlined in the Implementation Plan. The Council's objective when evaluating projects funded under the VAWA Program is to ensure that all funds are properly accounted for and utilized in a manner maximizing efficiency and effectiveness. Also, the Council strives to gauge the extent to which a project causes change in the desired direction and that the benefits received are allocable to the costs incurred. Through the assistance of a Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Council will contract with an outside agency to develop a method enabling staff to create geographical maps depicting crime offenses between 1990-1999 at the city, county and state levels. Offenses will include family violence, sexual assault and others. Data gathered from this study will influence VOCA and VAWA funding strategies in the 2002 Grant Year. A previous project funded by the SAC, Sexual Assault Offender Accountability in Georgia, established a detailed baseline of information concerning the historical sanctioning of sexual offenders. Data analyses of ten sex crimes were undertaken to document demographic, personal, behavioral and characteristic data on incarcerated and probationer sexual offenders, ten-year (1988-1998) sentencing trends for sexual offenders in Georgia, and discretionary parole release practices over the past twenty years. Methodology for Meeting VAWA Priorities VAWA guidelines indicate four priorities which must be addressed in the Implementation Plan: A. Priority to areas of varying geographic size with the greatest showing of need based on the availability of existing domestic violence and sexual assault programs in the population and geographic area to be served in relation to the availability of such programs in other such populations and geographic areas; B. Determination of the amount of subgrants based on the population and geographic area to be served; C. Equitable distribution of monies on a geographic basis, including suburban and rural areas of various geographic sizes; and State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 13 D. Recognize and address the needs of underserved populations. These priorities are addressed in the Request for Proposal review process. Specifically, the reviewer is asked to first review the project for allowability under VAWA Program Guidelines. After this is established, the project is reviewed for financial feasibility given the amount of funding available in the applicable funding category. Once these two factors have been determined, the RFP is reviewed to see if it addresses one of the four priority areas identified above. If the RFP meets one or more of the priorities, this is noted in the RFP review. Once all reviews are complete, the projects are given a funding priority. The projects meeting the above priorities closest are given highest priority, and are funded accordingly until either funds are unavailable, and/or there are no other viable projects programmatically and financially feasible in a funding category who have applied. This process has worked well for Georgia. In order to document compliance with this section, the following part will state examples of projects that address each of the priorities that have been funded. Priority A This priority has been addressed by funding projects which provide services in areas where there were few and/or no services previously. This has been done in areas of varying geographic size. For example, a project has been funded to address the difficulties in prosecuting sexual assault cases in Southwest Georgia. The project represents a collaborative effort between several judicial circuits (Dougherty, Pataula, and South Georgia). It provides a trained sexual assault investigator who will assist outlying law enforcement agencies with cases in the three circuits. The program will also contract with the SANE Program with exams being completed at local hospitals in Dougherty County. By combining local law enforcement agencies with a specialized investigator and SANE nurse examiners, the program will improve evidence collection and victim confidence. In contrast to this project which covers a large rural geographic area, projects have been funded that address needs in an urban setting. For example, a project was funded in the Metro Atlanta area that addresses the domestic violence concerns of the Pan Asian Community. Although the Metro Atlanta area is very populated and has service providers for domestic violence, there were few services that addressed the cultural and linguistic needs of this community. Therefore, this project was given high priority for funding, not only due to the need but due to the unique nature of the project which provides services to an underserved population. Priority B This priority is addressed by recommending greater award amounts to those projects, who either one, serve a large geographic area, or two serve a large population where the number of victims is greater. This can best be shown by comparing two projects which contrast greatly in the population they serve. For example, the Greene County Sheriff's Office received $28,353 during the 2002 Grant Year for one domestic violence investigator, State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 14 where as Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office received $46,025 (down from $32,052) for two domestic violence investigators. Although these projects provide basically the same services, they were awarded largely different amounts of funding due to the size of the population they serve. The 2000 U.S. Census confirms that Gwinnett County's population was 588,448 and Greene County's population was 14,406. Priority C This priority is best demonstrated by the maps presented in Appendix D. These maps demonstrate that Georgia's strategy is to attempt to assure victim services are available in different geographical areas of the State. The maps indicate where VAWA projects in Georgia are located. In addition, coordination with the VOCA Grant Program and other funding agencies such as the Department of Human Resources (DHR), which distributes federal and state monies in the areas of Health and Human Services for domestic violence and sexual assault, help the Council assure that the geographic areas with the least amount of services available are given the highest priority for funding once RFPs are received. Priority D This priority is addressed as described earlier by simply ranking RFPs with a higher priority if they addressed underserved victims. The primary projects that have been funded in this area are bilingual advocates to address the needs of Spanish speaking victims. This is a problem from areas as urban as Metro Atlanta, all the way to rural Georgia where Spanish speaking people are hired as laborers in chicken plants and in the farming community. Therefore agencies addressing this need in Georgia have been given a higher priority for funding, when they submit a RFP for consideration. Two projects that demonstrate this focus in the metro area are Refugee Women's Network, Raksha and Newcomers Network These agencies work together to provide services to victims who are refugee and immigrant women and all non-English speaking women. Coordination and Training Efforts An important part of the responsibility of the VAWA State implementing agency is to act as a coordinator of all VAWA funds that come into the state as well as other related funding. The Council has tried to accomplish this through an active role in domestic violence and sexual assault organizations as well as the law enforcement and prosecution community as the following describes. Another area of coordination has been the aforementioned Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Act Grant Program. The Council received a grant to establish satellite offices that would provide services in rural counties with little or no assistance available to battered women and children. The issue of Full Faith and Credit has been tackled from a number of different angles. The Council has provided training on this topic to all subgrantees, both VAWA and VOCA, by State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 15 bringing Seema Zeya from the Full Faith and Credit Project and speakers from the Department of Justice to the Council's past Victim Assistance Training Conferences. Members of the staff were involved in the creation of the statewide temporary protective order registry by serving on a committee through the Georgia Commission on Family Violence and through the work of the Criminal Justice Records Improvement Committee of the Council. This effort is necessary for full faith and credit to ever be realized. Although mentioned frequently, the Council's Annual Victim Assistance Conference has been and will continue to be one of the best ways for the Council to both train subgrantees as well as receive input from them on what is needed in the State. This three day conference provides specific training for law enforcement, prosecution, and victim services and is attended by over 600 people. During the conference, Regional Talking Circles (sessions) were established as separate workshops so that conference attendees that serve various areas of the state could meet and coordinate with each other and devise better ways to utilize each others services. It will remain a part of the Council's effort to improve services provided to victims of crime here in the state of Georgia. State of Georgia VAWA Implementation Plan Page 16