ACCESS AND VISITATION GRANT (A&V): INITIATIVES SERVING SELF-REPRESENTED LITIGANTS WITH CHILD SUPPORT ISSUES

The Administrative Office of the Courts will have funds available through the Access and Visitation Grant for the development of or continuation of initiatives that will address the needs of never-married and non-custodial parents to focus on services to help them resolve any or all issues concerning parenting and visitation in child support cases or cases involving child support issues.  These initiatives may include Mediation, Developing Parenting Plans, Parent Education, Providing legal information or legal services for self-represented litigants, and Supervised Visitation of private party cases (Non-DCS cases).

Grant Information:
The grant cycle is from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024.  Applicants must be a unit of government or a non-profit organization. Applicants must provide signatures of presiding judge of the trial court in the district OR the judge(s) presiding over the court(s) receiving access and visitation services.  At least one (1) letter of support from the court expected to receive grant paid services.  

Application Deadline and Requirements: 
The application deadline is August 25, 2023, 4:30 p.m. CST.  Applications must be submitted in the application format provided by the AOC.  The applicant’s signature may be signed digitally or the signature page can be signed and emailed as a separate document. Applications must be emailed to grants@tncourts.gov.  Please be advised if the application is not in the proper format it will be returned to the applicant and may cause delays in processing.  

Notification of grant awards will be sent early-September 2023.

If you have any questions, please contact Dana Schmidt:
Dana Schmidt, Programs Manager
Phone: (615) 741-2687
Email: grants@tncourts.gov

** Awards are contingent upon receipt of federal funding by the Administrative Office of the Courts.The AOC expects to offer funding as long as revenue continues. It is expected that the AOC will have approximately $200,000 in total funding to distribute across Tennessee.

Apply for Access and Visitation Grant
 

APPLICATION FOR GRANT FUNDING BY STATE APPROPRIATION VICTIM OFFENDER RECONCILIATION PROGRAM (VORP) FISCAL YEAR 2023 - 2024

The Victim Offender Reconciliation Program of Tennessee (VORP) was sanctioned by the legislature in 1993.  Pursuant to this legislation, the Administrative Office of the Courts has grant funds available for fiscal year 2019-2020 for VORP programs based on the statutory criteria listed in T.C.A. §16-20-101 et seq. Centers must be organized as a not-for-profit corporation. 

The grants shall be for services rendered during the time period of July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024. Funding awards are dependent upon the availability of state appropriated funding.

The application must be received by the AOC via email  by 4:30 pm Central Time on Wednesday, May 15, 2023.  Applicants submit the application form and all related documents in PDF format. Use Adobe Acrobat Reader, or Adobe Acrobat DC to fill out the application form; No other type of form will be accepted.  Please do not submit an old form; use the form included on the website; failure to use the correct form can cause the application to be returned.  Extensions for this issue will not be granted.  It is the responsibility of the applicant to confirm that the AOC received the grant application. The applicant’s signature may be signed digitally or the signature page can be signed and emailed as a separate PDF document.  Applications must be emailed to grants@tncourts.gov.  Notification of grant awards will be sent on or about May 31, 2023

Application Quick Facts

Click here for the VORP Application
 

APPLICATION FOR GRANT FUNDING BY STATE APPROPRIATION PARENT EDUCATION AND MEDIATION FUND (PEMF) FISCAL YEAR 2023 - 2024

In 2000, the Tennessee General Assembly enacted Public Chapter 889, known as the Tennessee Parenting Plan Law which provides for funding to be distributed by the Administrative Office of the Courts “for the specific purpose of funding the parenting plan requirements pursuant to this part, through the divorcing parent education and mediation fund, which funding includes the costs of court-ordered mediation, parenting education programs and any related services to resolve family conflict in divorce, post-divorce, and other child custody matters.”  T.C.A. §36-6-413.
The grants shall be for services rendered during the time period of July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024. Funding awards are dependent upon the availability of state appropriated funding.  The application must be signed by the presiding judge of the trial court in the district and the judge(s) presiding over the court(s) in which the litigants will be assisted by the initiative. 
The application must be received by the AOC via email by 4:30 pm Central Time on Wednesday, May 15, 2023.  Applicants submit the application form and all related documents in PDF format. Use Adobe Acrobat Reader, or Adobe Acrobat DC to fill out the application form; No other type of form will be accepted.  Please do not submit an old form; use the form included on the website; failure to use the correct form can cause the application to be returned.  Extensions for this issue will not be granted. It is the responsibility of the applicant to confirm that the AOC received the grant application. The applicant’s signature may be signed digitally or the signature page can be signed and emailed as a separate PDF document.  Applications must be emailed to grants@tncourts.gov.  Notification of grant awards will be sent on or about May 31, 2023.

Application Quick Facts

Click here for the PEMF Application 
 

Access and Visitation Grant: Initiatives serving Self-Represented Litigants with Child Support Issues

The Administrative Office of the Courts will have funds available through the Access and Visitation Grant for the development of or continuation of initiatives that will address the needs of never-married parents and focus on services to help them resolve any or all issues concerning parenting and visitation in child support cases or cases involving child support issues.  These initiatives may include Mediation, Developing Parenting Plans, Parent Education, Providing legal information or legal services for self-represented litigants, and Supervised Visitation.

The grant shall be for services performed during the time period of October 1, 2022 through September 30, 2023.  Applicants must be a unit of government or a non-profit organization.

The AOC will host a webinar for applicants on August 29, 2022 at 3:00 pm CDT.  Register HERE

An application for the grant funding can be found below.  Applicants must provide signatures of presiding judge of the trial court in the district OR the judge(s) presiding over the court(s). We require letters of support from their local court(s) as part of the application.

Access and Visitation Grant Application (2022-2023)

Applications for funding must be received by the AOC by 4:30 p.m. CDT on Friday, September 2, 2022.  Applications must be submitted in a PDF format.  The applicant’s signature may be signed digitally or the signature page can be signed and emailed as a separate document.  Applications must be emailed to grants@tncourts.gov.  Notification of grant awards will be sent mid-September 2022.

If you have any questions, please contact Dana Schmidt:

Dana Schmidt, Programs Manager
Phone: (615) 741-2687
Email: grants@tncourts.gov

** Awards are contingent upon receipt of federal funding by the Administrative Office of the Courts.  The AOC expects to offer funding as long as revenue continues.   It is expected that the AOC will have approximately $200,000.00 in total funding to distribute across Tennessee.
 

SUBSTANCE ABUSE GRANT

Under a grant from the State Justice Institute (SJI-01-N-210-C03-1), the National Center for State Courts Institute for Court Management, in collaboration with the American Judges Association, is pleased to provide judges access to an online course on Substance Abuse.

This course explores the nature of alcohol and other drug abuse as well as the dynamics of recovery in the court context. It is intended as a primer for judges who handle all types of case. Its goal is to encourage judges in all types of courts to share current information and work with experts in other disciplines to develop new systematic approaches to address this large and challenging court population. The course was created using "WebCT" instructional software and requires users to enroll prior to accessing course content and materials. The enrollment process requires participants to provide a full name, email address and phone number.

ICM is also asking participants to identify their court organization and position/title for course demographic purposes. Upon enrollment in the course participants are able to navigate the course at their own pace in an individualized setting in a secured environment.

To access the course, please go to the National Center for State Courts Institute for Court Management "Free Resources" website.

Select the Judicial Education on Substance Abuse course. You will be directed to an enrollment page where you will be required to complete the registration form and click on the submit button once completed. An email response will be returned to you within 48 hours with a user name and password. Follow the enrollment instructions to access the course.

If you are having problems accessing the registration page or the WebCT Substance Abuse course please email elearning@ncsc.dni.us.

This Educational Curriculum was prepared with the support of a grant from the State Justice Institute (SJI-01-N-063). Points of view expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the State Justice Institute.