The Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has removed from its website all information on current funding opportunities and directs visitors not to finalize any applications. This adds to the fear of nonprofits that work to help victims of gender-based violence that a major funding source may dry up.
It is unclear whether this pause is temporary. OVW did not return a request for comment on Friday afternoon.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took parts of its website down for several days to check for compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
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Users looking for information about funding from OVW are directed to the homepage, which on Friday showed a message to grantees saying that a funding freeze announced January 27 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was not in effect due to a judge’s restraining order. OMB had directed agencies to pause funds pending a review of their compatibility with executive orders related to immigration, “illegal DEI” and “woke gender ideology.”
The notice of the court order says “agencies may exercise their own authority to pause awards or obligations, provided agencies do so purely based on their own discretion” and in accordance with agreements and not solely due to the rescinded OMB memo or the executive orders.
An archived version of the OVW funding opportunities webpage from January 24, and viewable on the Internet Archive, shows 10 grants open for applications, with deadlines varying from January to May 2025. The update about withdrawing grant opportunities is dated February 6. Grants previously listed included ones aimed at ending abuse later in life, providing housing for victims of domestic violence and helping local law enforcement stop cybercrimes.
Websites for other Justice Department offices, including Community Oriented Policing Services and Office of Justice Programs, continue to show available funding opportunities.
OVW is one of largest funders of programs for survivors of gender-based and domestic violence.
Many nonprofits that work with victims of domestic or intimate partner violence edited their websites in the wake of the funding freeze, providing static pages with just phone numbers or removing resources for LGBTQ+ people.
