Protect our Land, Ascend with Us!

Ascension LLC is seeking a Tribal Victim Services and Federal Grants Compliance Lead to support a national-scope effort for DOJ/OJP/OVC focused on strengthening victim service programs in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. The ideal candidate is a highly credible, mission-driven professional with hands-on experience supporting Tribal or Tribe-serving organizations, federal grant-funded programs, victim services programs, and trauma-informed, victim-centered service delivery.

This role is essential to helping grant recipients understand and meet OVC and OJP award requirements while improving the quality, cultural relevance, sustainability, and operational strength of victim services programs. The selected candidate should bring strong knowledge of federal grant compliance, victim advocacy practices, Tribal community engagement, confidentiality requirements, program design, policy development, and technical assistance delivery. The SOW specifically identifies required expertise in crime victim advocacy, child abuse and neglect, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, elder abuse, sexual assault, human trafficking, survivors of homicide, Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, and child advocacy centers.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Tribal Victim Services and Federal Grants Compliance Lead will serve as a senior subject matter expert responsible for advising, guiding, and supporting Tribal grant recipients as they develop, improve, and sustain OVC-funded victim services programs. This position will help assess grant recipient needs, develop customized compliance assistance plans, review and strengthen policies and procedures, support program narratives and time-task plans, assist with monitoring issue resolution, contribute to training and resource development, and help document outcomes through technical reports and annual reporting.

The ideal candidate will be detail-oriented, culturally responsive, highly organized, and comfortable working in complex environments where guidance must be practical, respectful, trauma-informed, and tailored to the unique needs of each Tribal community. This role requires someone who can translate federal requirements into clear, usable tools and guidance; collaborate with program managers, grant recipients, SMEs, and OVC stakeholders; and support consistent tracking of services from request intake through delivery, closeout, and evaluation. The SOW requires the contractor to develop a comprehensive system for receiving, tracking, responding to, and assessing compliance assistance plans, including qualitative and quantitative outcome measures and user satisfaction processes.

Expected Day-to-Day Activities

The position’s activities may vary based on grant recipient requests, OVC referrals, work plan priorities, training cycles, reporting deadlines, and special projects. The candidate will be expected to:

• Assess Tribal grant recipient needs, compliance gaps, program risks, and capacity-building priorities.
• Develop customized compliance assistance plans that identify the recipient, challenge, intended outcomes, resources required, and estimated level of effort.
• Advise grant recipients on OJP award conditions, OVC program requirements, allowable activities, program narratives, time-task plans, and monitoring issue resolution.
• Review and strengthen policies and procedures related to confidentiality, client privacy, suitability to interact with minors, victim services operations, referrals, intake, documentation, and service delivery.
• Support victim service program design for advocacy programs, domestic violence shelters, transitional housing programs, child advocacy centers, elder abuse programs, sexual assault response programs, human trafficking services, MMIP family supports, and homicide survivor services.
• Prepare technical reports documenting assistance delivered, resources committed, outcomes achieved, follow-up actions, and recommended next steps.
• Contribute to tools, fact sheets, instructional toolkits, webinars, training materials, templates, and guidance documents that help grant recipients meet OVC award condition compliance and victim services program goals.
• Facilitate targeted technical assistance sessions, peer-to-peer learning exchanges, communities of practice, or specialized support discussions.
• Coordinate with SMEs, OVC staff, grant managers, Tribal stakeholders, and partner organizations to ensure assistance is accurate, respectful, and aligned with community needs.
• Identify emerging challenges affecting Tribal victim services programs, including rural access, Alaska Native community needs, technology limitations, staffing shortages, crisis response, and sustainability barriers.
• Recommend practical solutions that improve the quality and quantity of capacity assistance delivered to Tribal grant recipients.
• Track service delivery, technical assistance status, participant feedback, measurable outcomes, and lessons learned to support annual reporting.
• Support the annual report by documenting challenges, successes, promising practices, lessons learned, quantitative data, qualitative feedback, and strategies for improvement.
• Participate in virtual site visits, consultations, listening sessions, webinars, roundtables, or other approved OVC events as needed.