The Office of Emergency Services (OES) has announced $6.1 million dollars in emergency response funds intended to support the needs associated with providing safety and services for victims of interpersonal violence – domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and child abuse during this time of social distancing. To facilitate the distribution of these funds, OES has contracted with the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (the Partnership), Valor (Formerly the California Coalition Against Sexual Assualt), and the Children’s Advocacy Centers of California administered by the Child Abuse, Listening, Interviewing, and Coordination Center (CALICO) to serve as regranting agencies.

Informational Webinars

➜ We Hosted two informational webinars and answering questions about the application and award process

• Thursday, May 27 – View Recording
• Friday, May 28 – View Recording
• View the Slideshow

Questions and Answers from the Informational Webinars
(This page will be updated frequently)

Please select from the subject areas below:

General

Can motel/hotel rooms for client shelter be included in the direct costs as a basis for indirect or do they need to be excluded as a direct client benefit or rent?

Yes, hotel/motel rooms are not considered rent, this is a participant support cost.

What time on June 2nd will the application be open?

The application will become available at 9am

You can include an indirect line?

Yes, if that if your organization’s practice. 10% or if you have a federally negotiated indirect cost rate, please include it with your application.

Will more funding be disbursed for shelter than for the other allowable costs?

No, we will disperse on a first come first serve basis.

Are we able to apply for and be awarded the maximum amount from each agency?

Yes, as long as the services being funded are different for each application.

Can you clarify what CO stands for?

This is the identifier CalOES is using for this grant.

Eligibility

Do you have to be an official “rape crisis center” or just an organization that serves survivors of SA?

You only have to be an organization that serves survivors of SA to be eligible.

Are we eligible to apply if we are fiscally sponsored by a 501c3?

Yes.

Does human trafficking apply to youth as well?

Yes.

If we received the PPAP from CALCASA/ Valor, does that count as previous funding under this cycle?

This is a separate funding source and will not impact your eligibility or award amount.

If we are in the process of opening up a shelter for fostered youth who are separated from parents, would this go under child abuse?

This depends on the type of victimization they experienced, and what services you are providing to them.

Administrative Expenses

Can we use the funds for developing and printing informational/advocacy materials (e.g., pamphlets) for DV survivors that include COVID-related changes?

Yes, as long as the link to COVID is clear in your budget.

We needed to rent additional space for social distancing. Can we pre-pay that rent with these award funds?

No, you can only use these funds for rent during the award period.

Can award funds be used for remote work stipends for staff

Yes.

Can we use these funds to pay for annual subscription costs paid during the grant period if the subcription extends beyond July 31

If this is how your organization accounting practices recognize these expenses, then yes.

Can we purchase plastic shields and air filters so people can meet with clients in the office?

Yes.

Can award funds be used to cover staffing salaries?

Yes, when staffing is in response to COVID need, such as increased need, hazard pay, OT related to COVID.

Can award funds be used for just hazard pay?

Yes.

Can award funds be used for PPE?

PPE is eligible.

Can award funds be used for over-time?

Yes, if it is due to Covid.

Can award funds be used for bonuses?

No, funding cannot be used to pay for bonuses. It can be used to pay for hazard pay retroactively.

Can award funds be used for staff retreat?

No.

Can award funds be used for cost to host online workshops & trainings?

Only if they are directly resulting from Covid-19.

Client Service Expenses

Can agencies purchase motel vouchers that can be used after July 30?

Yes, this is fine.

Can award funds be used for rental assistance?

If rental assistance need can be linked to COVID 19 in some way.

Can we use award funds to purchase laptops/cell phones/etc for clients?

You can use award funds to purchase these devices to be loaned to clients, only if they are used to access services that became remote due to Covid.

Can Substance Abuse services be included for DV survivors if we relate it to Covid?

Yes, only if it is related to Covid.

Can we use award funds to pre-pay client cellular phone service for a year?

Only if this is your current organizational practice.

Can we include hotel payments as a direct cost?

Yes.

Can award funds be used to make cash disbursements to clients?

No, cash disbursements are not allowed, and any payments made on a client’s behalf must be made directly to the vendor.

If gift cards are purchased, do they all need to be distributed by July 31?

No.

We have incurred costs due to hotel room damages. Can this funding cover that?

If the hotel room is being utilized due to Covid, yes.

Can we use these funds for direct support checks to survivors?

No.

Is this funding restricted only to clients who live in California?

Yes.

Can legal services for clients be funded with this grant?

If they are COVID related, yes.

Are services provided to foster youth eligible?

Foster youth that identify of victims of interpersonal violence are considered eligible clients.

Can we use the funds for client medical bills

Yes.

Can we use the funds for client transportation expenses?

Yes.

Can we reimburse clients for eligible expenses/payments they have already made?

Yes, as long as they were made during the grant period.

Our therapeutic services have moved to Zoom, resulting in an increase in clients utilization. Could costs for these services be eligible?

Yes.

Invoicing/Reporting

Should we use client names on reporting forms?

No, please use unique identifiers.

Can you explain the invoicing process?

Upon award, the Partnership will generate a payment request. Grantees will be required to submit any invoices along with backup documentation (receipts, general ledgers, time cards as applicable) at the end of the grant period.

Will award funds be paid in advance, or as reimbursements?

Award funds will be paid in advance. The Partnership will begin processing payments once we receive funds from CalOES. At this point, funds should be received within 1-2 weeks.

Can we provide aggregate client info, rather than reporting on each client separately as requested in last year’s report? We have concerns about confidentiality.

Individual client reporting is required, but you can use client identifiers to protect sensitive information.

Do we still need to complete progress reports if we are not budgeting any personnel costs or direct services under this funding?

Yes, if you are purchasing anything with the funds you will have to report on those items, and if they benefited clients, you will need to report on the clients they benefited.

Since these are relief funds, do we need to have clients complete a W-9 if assistance is over $600?

You should continue to follow your organizational practices.

If using funding for gift cards, will receipts of what was purchased with the gift cards be required?

No.

If funding hazard pay, do we report on clients served while staff was working in person pre-vaccines?

Yes, you will need to report on the clients employees served during the time they received hazard pay funded by this award.

If requesting funding for multiple categories of eligible expenses, can we internally modify our budget if we don’t exceed our total award amount?

Yes. We will ask you to submit a revised budget with your final expenditure report.

If we use funding for Zoom, do we need to report on every single participant we communicated with via Zoom?

No, just on the number of licenses purchased.

If you’re paying for hotels, do you count clients that stayed there?

Yes.

If we’re paying for additional cleaning of client services, will we need to report on clients served at those locations?

No.

For the hotel budget line item, if we state we need to house 10 participants for 21 days and $125 per night, is this a sufficient description?

Yes, stay within the state allowed limits please.

We run a transitional housing community for survivors of sex trafficking, and it’s fully staffed. If we include staff salaries, for reporting do we then need to provide documentation to verify that everyone in that housing community was a victim of trafficking?

No, but you do need to report who received services related to the grant.