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Public Awareness

Events

• The Tribal Law and Policy Institute, through a grant from OVC, will host the 13th National Indian Nations Conference on December 6-8, 2012. This year’s event will be held on the reservation of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, California, with the theme, "Strength from Within: Rekindling Tribal Traditions to assist Victims of Crime." The largest U.S. Department of Justice-sponsored Indian Nations conference, this event will bring together a diverse audience to improve the delivery of services to victims of crime in Indian Country. Visit the Conference Web site to learn more and to register.

• The 2013 SART conference has been cancelled due to challenges presented by the DOJ event planning process. OVC and the SANE-SART Resource Service are working on a number of other projects to foster the opportunities to bring SART teams together and to improve the care provided to sexual assault victims by improving the SART system response to all victims of sexual assault. Please check the SANE-SART conference website this fall for details about these new opportunities.

Past Events

• In October 2011, at the invitation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina (USAO-EDNC), under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training (OPDAT), OVC Acting Director Frost traveled to Kosovo to attend and speak at events observing its second National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. Read Kosovo Focuses on Victims’ Rights after Decades of Strife to learn more about—
  • The history of Kosovo;
  • The Kosovar efforts to establish a criminal justice system that recognizes victims’ rights;
  • The events that led up to Acting Director Frost’s visit; and
  • The positive outcomes to date of the relationship between Kosovo, the U.S. Embassy, OPDAT, and USAO-EDNC.
• Save the date for the 2012 OVC Mass Violence and Emergency National Training Conference scheduled for January 31–February 2, 2012, in Jacksonville, Florida. The 2012 OVC Mass Violence and Emergency National Training Conference—Improving Readiness to Assist Victims—will bring together multidisciplinary stakeholder teams to share their experiences and knowledge about how to respond to victims, survivors, and communities. Stakeholder discipline areas include, but are not limited to—
  • Emergency Management Personnel
  • Law Enforcement
  • Fire and Rescue
  • Federal, state, local, and tribal policymakers
  • Prosecutors
  • State VOCA and Victim Compensation Administrators
  • Faith-based organizations
  • Victim service professionals
• The fifth annual National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims was observed on September 25, 2011. OVC extends its condolences to affected families and reminds victim service providers of resources available to help survivors and co-victims.
• The OVC-funded National Conference on Responding to Crime Victims with Disabilities will be held December 13-15, 2011, at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes, Orlando, Florida. Attendees will have the opportunity to enhance their knowledge, skills, and competencies to effectively serve people with disabilities who are victims of crime, abuse, and neglect. Stakeholder discipline areas include—
  • victim service providers;
  • disability advocates;
  • adult and child protective service workers;
  • law enforcement;
  • attorneys;
  • faith-based practitioners;
  • medical practitioners/forensic examiners;
  • mental health practitioners; and
  • educators.
• The 6th National Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Training Conference was held on May 25-27, 2011, in Austin, Texas. This biennial event drew more than 1,000 participants from around the country and the world and from different professions. [more >>]
• The 12th National Indian Nations Conference—held on December 9-11, 2010, in Palm Springs, California, on the Agua Caliente Reservation—was a success, exceeding previous years’ attendance with over 900
  attendees. . . [more >>]
• Stop. Think. Connect.™ officially kicked off with a launch event on October 4, 2010, at the Seattle Public Library in Seattle, Washington, as part of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Stop. Think. Connect. is a national initiative that promotes simple steps the public can take to increase their safety and security online.
• The fourth annual National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims was observed on Friday, September 25, 2010.