SOI # 1224-2: Erie County IDV Court Victim Advocate Services

The New York State Unified Court System (UCS) is seeking providers of services to survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking and related gender violence for court-based assistance in the Erie County Family Court.

UCS operates Domestic Violence (DV) courts and Integrated Domestic Violence (IDV) courts throughout the State. The DV/IDV courts oversee criminal cases, both felony and misdemeanor, involving intimate partner violence. These courts focus on accountability and compliance with all orders and sentences issued by the judge. IDV courts oversee intimate partner violence cases involving families with matters pending in multiple courts including the family, criminal and matrimonial systems. In an IDV court, one judge is assigned to review all these matters working with the parties to gain a clearer and more holistic picture of the issues facing these litigants.

Pursuant to the ‘The Erie County Integrated Domestic Violence Court Firearms Analysis, Response, and Surrender Project’ UCS is soliciting interest from prospective providers who will be responsible for assisting with family offense petitions and applications for temporary orders of protection in the Erie County Family Court with a special emphasis on firearm inquiry.

UCS seeks letters of interest to provide the services detailed herein for anticipated funding totaling $216,818 for the period January 13, 2025 to September 30, 2027.

The provider agency will be responsible for the following:

• Hiring of a full-time victim advocate, who will be present in the Erie County Family Court to:

-Assist petitioners filing for civil orders of protection.

-Work collaboratively with the grant team to enhance procedures to identify the presence of firearms during the domestic violence incident or possession of firearms by a respondent;

-Work with the survivor throughout the court proceeding;

-Coordinate with law enforcement to follow up on any firearms seizure orders or surrender directives from the court;

-Keep the survivor and their attorney advised of compliance or lack of compliance with these directives and additional safety planning; and

-Participate in all project stakeholder meetings.

To indicate interest in and eligibility to provide these services, please complete the form on the following page and send:

1. The form appended to this Solicitation of Interest
2. A line-item budget equal to the estimated available funding of $216,818
3. Budgets separated by the following budget periods.
   
   -January 13, 2025-September 30, 2025
   -October 1, 2025-September 30, 2026
   -October 1, 2026-September 30, 2027
   
   
4. Letter of interest to Bridget McAvoy at bmcavoy@nycourts.gov

To receive consideration, the letter of interest must in the format defined herein and must include a brief description of any prior experience providing these services and capacity, including qualifications on an organizational level, to provide the specified training services required.

Letters of interest and forms are due to the email address above by 2pm on Friday, January 10, 2025.