Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
North Dakota Rape Prevention and Education Program - The North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (NDDHHS) will be responsible for the management of the Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) program at the state level. The NDDHHS will oversee and monitor the activities of all sub-recipients, as well as the strategies necessary to increase statewide capacity for sexual violence (SV) primary prevention strategies at the community- and societal-level of the social ecology with a focus on populations with disproportionately high rates of SV. The NDDHHS will contract with Obinna Solutions to provide evaluation support and capacity building for primary prevention and health equity. The State Capacity Building Team (SCBT), which includes the RPE Principal Investigator, RPE Evaluator, and CAWS ND (statewide domestic violence/sexual assault coalition) has been in existence the last two funding cycles. The SCBT serves as the RPE planning group and focuses on building capacity for RPE subrecipients and partnering agencies. In the last two years, the SCBT began incorporating health equity into capacity building efforts and assessments and has invited First Nations Women’s Alliance (FNWA) Tribal Coalition, to be a partner in RPE efforts and a member of the SCBT. The NDDHHS, with guidance from CDC, will revise the State Action Plan submitted during CDC-RFA-CE19-1902. The RPE Principal Investigator will work with the SCBT and other SV prevention stakeholders to plan SV prevention activities based on the best available evidence, prioritizing strategies at community- and societal-level. The State Action Plan will be updated to include data on health disparities and specific strategies from Focus Areas 1 and 2. Preliminary discussions are leading to the priority populations of Indigenous women and girls, persons in rural areas, persons experiencing poverty, and isolated youth. The NDDHHS, with input from the SCBT and representatives from underserved communities, will select subrecipients to identify, implement, and adapt prevention strategies from Focus Areas 1: Strengthen Economic Supports and Focus Area 2: Create Protective Environments. The SCBT has started providing education on these strategies to potential subrecipients, but additional capacity building is required before awarding funds. The RPE Principal Investigator will promote the use of CDC’s Sexual Violence Prevention Resource for Action (previously referred to as STOP SV Technical Packages). For Focus Area 3: Promoting Social Norms that Protect Against Violence, the RPE Principal Investigator will subcontract with Community Violence Intervention Center (CVIC) who is already implementing Green Dot Community. CVIC was selected based on their high level of community readiness and internal capacity to support Green Dot implementation. The SCBT will review and refine existing SV indicators to include in the updated state-level evaluation plan upon receipt of guidance from CDC. Indicators that align with Focus Areas 1 and 2 will be added. The existing data dashboard will be updated with SV indicators related to the social determinants of health. The SCBT will determine how to utilize data more effectively in decision-making processes and share with external partners. The RPE Principal Investigator will collaborate with CAWS ND and FNWA in developing and implementing an evaluation plan.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).