Civil Rights Training and Other Federal Obligations

 

Civil Rights Training Opportunities Overview

All federal grant recipients are required to be knowledgeable of and in compliance with laws that are connected to funding awards.

 

The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) is requiring grantees to increase their cultural knowledge and implement policies related to the Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning (LGBTQ) community.  In addition, the 2012 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) included compliance language regarding anti-discrimination policies and efforts, particularly as it applies to LGBTQ service recipients.

 

To that end, the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (WCADVSA) and the Division of Victim Services (DVS) are coordinating efforts to ensure overall compliance and accessible and inclusive advocacy services. The WCADVSA and DVS have developed a multi-pronged approach to accomplish this.

 

• The DVS requires that program advocates complete a civil rights compliance training once during the State funding biennium.  The current biennium dates are July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2016. In coordination with the DVS, the WCADVSA will offer a civil rights compliance overview training annually.  Our training will fulfill the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) requirement and can replace the OCR online training.

• In addition, and in coordination with the DVS, the WCADVSA will annually provide further technical assistance and training on a specific federally protected class. The focus area that has been identified for this year is the LGBTQ community.

 

The civil rights compliance overview training and the focused protected class trainings are necessary components to ensure OCR compliance.

 

As a part of this year’s training plan, the WCADVSA and DVS are offering webinar training opportunities that will meet the OCR training requirements and help build knowledge around LGBTQ accessibility and inclusion.

 

Special Notes

• Each member of your staff is required to have civil rights training certification. To certify that each staff member has completed the training(s), each individual will need to register separately for the webinars.  The WCADVSA will issue training completion certificates to individuals that registered and participated in the webinar trainings.

• While everyone has to register separately, we highly encourage you and your staff to participate in the webinar as a team using one computer and/or TV.

 

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