AG seeks applications to provide sex-assault services after UI ‘closure’ of RVAP

In light of a recent University of Iowa decision to transition services of its Rape Victim Advocacy Program to the Iowa City-based Domestic Violence Intervention Program, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office on Wednesday announced a “competitive grant opportunity” to fill RVAP’s void in southeast Iowa.

“Following the University of Iowa’s closure of the Rape Victim Advocacy Program, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office is making grant funds available through a competitive grant application to ensure the best services possible are provided to support victims,” according to a news release from Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office.

The office is seeking applications from “qualified organizations” to serve sexual assault victims in Cedar, Des Moines, Henry, Iowa, Johnson, Lee, Van Buren and Washington counties.

Those eight counties make up “region 6“ of the six service-delivery regions the state created for victim services in 2013 — all of them aimed at helping survivors of sexual assault gain access to shelter or housing services.

RVAP is designated as region 6’s sex assault service provider. DVIP is its shelter and housing service provider. And Survivor Services Family Resources is designated to provide both housing and sex assault survivor services.

DVIP plans to apply for the sexual-assault grant funds announced by the attorney general’s office Wednesday, DVIP Executive Director Kristie Fortmann-Doser told The Gazette.

Although the exact amount of available funding for each of the two years covered by the grant application “is unknown,” according to the state’s request for proposals, the estimated amount for the first year — from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025 — is up to $400,000.

A projected amount for the second year — from October 2025 to Sept. 30, 2026 — wasn’t included in the request for proposals, which cited “cuts to federal funding” as having a potential impact.

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“We’ve known throughout this process that the Attorney General’s Office would likely have to release a request for proposals for the funding they administer for sexual violence services in region 6 in Iowa,” Fortmann-Doser said. “This funding includes both state and federal funds.”

Specifically, according to the Attorney General’s Office, funding could come from sources like the STOP Violence Against Women Act, State of Iowa victim services, and the federal Victims of Crime Act, which is facing deep cuts of late.

Funding cuts

Iowa coalitions against sexual assault and domestic violence recently rallied at the state Capitol in opposition to a looming 41 percent funding cut — amounting to $700 million — from the Victims of Crime Act, or VOCA. For Iowa, the cuts mean $5.4 million less in available grant assistance.

Those cuts were among the considerations in moving UI’s 51-year-old RVAP under DVIP’s auspices, Fortmann-Doser said.

“State funds have not been increased for more than 10 years, despite the increasing need for support and high inflation costs,” she said. “One of the considerations in making the decision to move RVAP to DVIP was the merging of administrative duties and resources to strengthen as a unified front.

“Ultimately, there are many factors that impact the decision to move a program like RVAP, but sustaining support for sexual violence victims is at the core.”

To that end, she said, DVIP — historically focused on supporting victims of domestic violence — will make its first application for funding to support sexual assault survivors.

It still can provide the RVAP services if it doesn’t land the state’s two-year contract.

But, Fortmann-Doser noted, “DVIP is in good standing and has the best rating available for fiscal management with our partners at the Attorney General’s office.”

“All victim services nonprofits in Iowa compete every cycle for this funding … and DVIP has been awarded funding through these competitions for more than 40 years,” she said. "Due to the nature of a competitive grant, we are well aware we may not be awarded this funding.

“But, like every victim services nonprofit in Iowa and across the nation, we continue to manage our business and plan for the resources we will have available to us, based on current resources and projected resources.“

One strategy DVIP has employed to insulate itself from various cuts is diversifying its funding sources.

"This doesn’t mean funding cuts have no impact,“ she said. ”Cuts hurt victims by reducing critical support. We have worked diligently to have a broad base of funding that includes federal, state and local municipalities, along with funding relationships with foundations, corporations and community members."

UI reasoning

In announcing the services of RVAP — founded in 1973 — will be administered by DVIP come Sept. 30, the university reasoned the organizations serve the same region and only 12 percent of its direct services from July 2023 to March 2024 went to UI-affiliated individuals.

Specifically, according to a report spanning that time period, RVAP provided direct services to 489 clients — with only 59 reporting a UI affiliation, either as a student, staff or faculty member. Although 242 reported no UI affiliation, 188 either left that question blank or otherwise reported an “unknown” affiliation.

Most clients reported Johnson County addresses, and most of its 473 crisis line calls during that time period — 330 — came from Johnson County.

In a letter supporting the RVAP transition from UI administration to DVIP, four individuals who've served RVAP in various positions over the years wrote, “For RVAP to continue to fully achieve its mission, it must operate as a human service agency and not under the increasing constraints of a university department.”

“We appreciate that the university, and DVIP understands this and are taking action,” according to the letter provided to The Gazette. “With this merger, cost effectiveness can be realized, the combined structure will be stronger and positioned to meet current and future emerging realities, resulting in the continuation of comprehensive and accessible services for victim/survivors of both sexual and domestic violence.”

Those who signed the letter — including Diane Funk, former RVAP executive director, and Janet Lyness, former Johnson County attorney who served on RVAP’s advisory board — reported concerns with the recent designation of RVAP as a UI department and its rebranding as the “University of Iowa Rape Victim Advocacy Program.”

“The reality of this change meant an erosion of RVAP being recognized as a community agency and resource,” according to the letter. “It raised questions and concerns from community partners and people seeking services, as the UI branding appeared exclusionary to anyone not connected to the University of Iowa, particularly to those in the rural communities served across RVAP’s eight-county region.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com