The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has awarded New Hampshire Legal Assistance (NHLA) a two-year grant of $540,000 to support its Domestic Violence Advocacy Project (DVAP).   Working in partnership with several other statewide non-profits and local crisis centers, DVAP advocates address critical civil legal needs of low-income domestic and sexual violence victims in the State of New Hampshire.  DVAP advocates provide direct representation to the most needy and vulnerable low-income victim/survivors in family law cases and also provide holistic representation to these clients in a wide range of civil legal issues, including housing, government benefits, bankruptcy, and immigration. The DVAP has been in operation since 1999.

“Thanks to the many years of funding we have received from the OVW since the DVAP was first launched in 1998, NHLA has been able to provide critical legal assistance to hundreds of victims of domestic violence. This continued funding enables us to continue doing this important work,” said NHLA Executive Director John Tobin.  “Given the competitive nature of this grant program, we feel very fortunate that our project has once again been selected for funding.”

New Hampshire Legal Assistance, a private non-profit legal aid organization, has been representing low-income and elderly people for more than three decades in a variety of civil cases involving, housing, health care, government benefits, domestic violence, utility shut-off and nursing home problems.  Over the years, New Hampshire Legal Assistance has undertaken thousands of cases and worked to protect low-income families and the elderly in the legislature, and in a number of other forums. 

The mission of the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, is to provide federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to reduce violence against women and administer justice for and strengthen services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.