Institution of Higher Education Monetary Penalty Endowment Act
Annual Report 2022
Overview. Act 1 of 2013, better known as the "Endowment Act," charges the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) with the responsibility of administering $48 million in funding that resulted from the settlement reached between State Senator Jake Corman, former State Treasurer Rob McCord, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) in January 2015.
Endowment Act funds may only be used within this Commonwealth for the benefit of the residents of Pennsylvania, and on any of the following:
- Programs or projects preventing child sexual abuse or assisting the victims of child sexual abuse;
- Multidisciplinary investigative teams (MDITs) established under 23 Pa.C.S. (relating to Domestic Relations);
- Child advocacy centers (CACs);
- Victim service organizations that provide services to children subjected to sexual abuse; and
- Training of persons who are mandated by law to report child sexual abuse or who treat victims of child sexual abuse.
In order to administer the funding, PCCD relies on the advice and recommendations of the Children's Advocacy Center Advisory Committee (CACAC), which was established by Act 28 of 2014. The members of the CACAC include experts in the investigation, identification, prosecution and treatment of victims of child sexual abuse.
2022 Annual Report to the General Assembly. The Endowment Act requires PCCD to provide an annual report to the General Assembly itemizing all approved expenditures from the endowment, the amount received by the organization and summary information aggregating expenditures by each category. It is PCCD's intention that this webpage should serve as the annual report to the General Assembly and the public.
The maps contained on this webpage provide the location of the grant recipients, the category of funding that they applied for, a summary of the award and the amount of the award.
For 2022, the CACAC funded projects included under category 1A (prevention), category 3 (CACs) and category 4 (victim service agencies). Funding announcements for category 1B (programs assisting victims of child sexual abuse), category 2 (MDITs) and category 5 (mandated reporter training/training of persons who treat victims of child sexual abuse) were not released during 2022.
By the end of December 2022, a total of 41 awards amounting to $5.98 million were released by PCCD.
Programs Assisting Victims. The first category in Act 1 is programs or projects preventing child sexual abuse or assisting the victims of child sexual abuse. The CACAC has determined that this category is two distinct items (i.e., prevention; assistance).
Prevention. In 2022, PCCD, in collaboration with the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network (CMSN) at the Penn State University (PSU) announced the availability of approximately $2.9 million in Endowment Act funding to support a new pilot prevention research program. Over the last four years, PCCD and CMSN implemented a three-pronged pilot prevention program that served over 16,000 second graders and 14,000 parents. Due to the success of that project, and the need to implement a more universal parent-education component, PCCD and CMSN implemented a two-year pilot that includes two programs to be provided within different segments of the community. They include:
(1) Safe Touches. This is a 50-minute puppet-based workshop that will be implemented among second grade students. The evidence-based curriculum teaches children about healthy boundaries, that it is okay to say "no", and how to get help from safe adults.
(2) Smart Parents. This is an adaptation of the evidence-informed Smart Parents program that will be implemented among parents of children under 18. The program teaches parents about healthy sexual development, communicating with children about sexual boundaries, ensuring safety, and obtaining help and resources.
The initial solicitation was released on November 30, 2021 via SurveyMonkey. PCCD and CMSN staff reached out to all recommended applicants to develop a budget based on the requirements of the project and the number of children each site plans to serve with a project period up to two years. Eligibility was open to any community-based organization, school entity, or county. Applicants were required to demonstrate their reach and partnership with K-12 school entities and preference was given to applicants serving at least 2,000 second graders and 200 parents. For rural areas, obtaining partnerships with a significant portion of their available student population sufficed.
The CACAC recommended and PCCD approved a total of 10 applications under the Prevention category requesting a total of $3,029,115 in Endowment Act funds in 2022.
Assistance. The Endowment Act – Programs Assisting Victims solicitation was released in 2019 with a project period of 2 years. The CACAC made the decision not to release additional funding in this category for 2022.
Multidisciplinary Investigative Teams (MDITs). The second category in Act 1 is multidisciplinary investigative teams (MDITs) established under 23 Pa.C.S. (relating to Domestic Relations). Per 23 Pa.C.S. § 6365 (relating to services for prevention, investigation and treatment of child abuse), every county in Pennsylvania is required to develop a MDIT, which is used to coordinate child abuse investigations between county agencies and law enforcement.
In 2021, the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Institute (PDAI), under an agreement with PCCD and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS), offered a one-time mini-grant solicitation consisting of federal Children's Justice Act (CJA) funds ($134,000) and a set-aside of Endowment Act funds ($205,000) to all 67 county MDITs. PDAI was responsible for the administration of the mini-grant program, with assistance from PCCD staff. Thirty counties were awarded for a total of $129,298.
The CACAC made the decision not to release additional funding in this category for 2022.
Child Advocacy Centers. The third category in Act 1 is child advocacy centers (CACs). CACs provide state-of-the-art treatment for the victims of child sexual abuse and child abuse. They coordinate medical care, treatment and other social services for victims while gathering evidence, through age-appropriate forensic interviewing and other methods employed by MDITs, to build an effective case against the alleged offender. By bringing medical professionals, social workers, prosecutors and police who specialize in child sexual abuse together under one roof, CACs are the most effective way to bring a perpetrator to justice.
An Endowment Act – Child Advocacy Center solicitation was released twice during 2022, first in February and then again in May. Both solicitations focused on providing funding to National Children's Alliance (NCA) member CACs and developing CACs. The need for additional funding was apparent during the review of the first round of EA-CAC applications and the decision was made to release up to an additional $500,000 in Endowment Act funds. In both rounds of solicitations, applicants were eligible to apply for up to $100,000 for two-year projects.
The CACAC recommended and PCCD approved a total of 16 applications under the CAC category requesting a total of $1,455,032 in Endowment Act funds in 2022.
Victim Service Organizations Providing Services to Children Subjected to Sexual Abuse. The fourth category in Act 1 is victim service organizations providing services to children subjected to sexual abuse. Victim assistance agencies throughout Pennsylvania provide a wide variety of services (e.g., shelter, legal counseling, mental health counseling, etc.) to victims of sexual assault and other crimes.
An Endowment Act – Direct Victim Service Organizations solicitation was released twice during 2022, first in February and then again in May. Both solicitations focused on providing funding to victim service agencies providing direct services to child victims of sexual abuse. The need for additional funding was apparent during the review of the first round of EA-DVSO applications and the decision was made to release up to an additional $500,000 in Endowment Act funds. In both rounds of solicitations, applicants were eligible to apply for up to $100,000 for two-year projects.
The CACAC recommended and PCCD approved a total of 15 applications under the DVSO category requesting a total of $1,499,201 in Endowment Act funds in 2022.
Treatment Training. The fifth category in Act 1 is training of persons who are mandated by law to report child sexual abuse or who treat victims of child sexual abuse. The CACAC has determined that this category is two distinct items (i.e., mandated reporter training; treatment training).
Mandated Reporter Training. The CACAC decided not to release any funding for this category in 2022.
Treatment Training. The CACAC made the decision not to release additional funding in this category for 2022.
All Endowment Act Grants Distributed to Date (2015-2022)
The map link below shows all of the projects that have been supported by Endowment Act funding since 2015. A total of 283 grants amounting to $23.8 million in Endowment Act funds have been awarded throughout the Commonwealth since 2015 to support over 75,000 child victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse. The Filter feature on the top right-hand side of the page can be used to display projects by year. If you are interested in viewing the actual award documents, please visit our full Grants Map webpage.
More Information. FAQ sheets on Endowment Act outcomes can be found on the Child Advocacy and Endowment Act webpage and in previous Endowment Act Annual Reports. More information about the Endowment Act in general can be found on PCCD's website. If you have a specific question, please email ra-pccd-cacac@pa.gov.
If you are interested in learning more about the availability of Endowment Act funding and/or any other funds that may be administered by PCCD, please sign up for our email notification of our funding announcements.
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