Program Supplements for Violence Intervention to Enhance Lives (VITEL)

The purpose of this program is to provide one-year supplemental funding to enable grantees from the Targeted Capacity Expansion: Substance Abuse Treatment for Racial/Ethnic Minority Women at High Risk for HIV/AIDS Minority Women (TCE-HIV: Minority Women) cohort funded in FY 2013 to expand/enhance grant activities required under the 2013 Request for Applications (RFA). The Violence Intervention to Enhance Lives (VITEL) supplemental grants will allow awardees to enhance existing substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services by implementing intimate partner violence (IPV) screening. Information on the TCE-HIV: Minority Women program may be found in the original funding announcement, TI-13-011 available on the SAMHSA website at http://media.samhsa.gov/Grants/archives.aspx. This program is being funded by the Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF). The purpose of the TCE-HIV: Minority Women program is to expand SUD treatment and HIV services for African American, Hispanic/Latina and other racial/ethnic minority women (ages 18 years and older), including heterosexual, lesbian, and bisexual persons, women who were previously incarcerated, and their significant others, who have substance use disorders and/or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders and are living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS (hereafter known as “the population of focus”). The VITEL grants will allow five existing grantees the opportunity to enhance their current SUD treatment services by implementing IPV screening. The goals of the VITEL program are 1) reduce IPV through screening and referrals, 2) reduce risky behaviors that lead to new HIV infections and substance use disorders, 3) increase access to care and improve health outcomes for people living with HIV and AIDS, 4) reduce HIV-related health disparities resultant from IPV screening tool implementation, and 5) determine the feasibility of integrating IPV screening in behavioral health settings.