National Organization for Victim Assistance

Founded in 1975, the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) is a private, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization of victim and witness assistance programs and practitioners, crisis responders, criminal justice agencies and professionals, mental health professionals, researchers, former victims and survivors, and others committed to the recognition and implementation of victim rights and services. NOVA’s mission is to champion dignity and compassion for victims of crime and crisis. NOVA is the oldest national organization of its kind in the Victims’ Rights Movement, catalyzing specializations of victim assistance in hundreds of areas that exist today, like domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse. Still, NOVA remains on the cutting edge integrating innovative victim services along with best-practices crisis response efforts. NOVA was founded in thirty-seven years ago to provide national advocacy for victims of crime who had no voice in federal decision-making process. Soon after its founding, NOVA was credited with providing victim service trainings to prosecutors, nurses, law enforcement, social workers, judges, clergy, mental health professionals and victim service practitioners in literally hundred of state, regional and national workshops, seminars, and conferences. As public awareness and victim service programs grew, so did NOVA. Today, NOVA hosts one of the best-attended skill-based, victim service professional conferences in the nation, with approximately 500-1,000 participants annually. NOVA continues to provide state, regional, and national training opportunities to victim services providers. In 2002, NOVA facilitated the National Advocate Credentialing Program, an allied professional credential whereby victim advocates nationwide are educated, certified, and held to the highest ethical standards. NOVA receives hundreds of applications for victim advocacy credentialing annually. NOVA operates a national victim service and crisis response nonprofit organization using a streamlined staff coupled with well-trained NOVA members, volunteers, and consultants. The existing staff has over 100 years of combined victim service and crisis response experience. NOVA volunteers, consultants, and members each have a minimum of twenty-four hours of intensive training. Most have exceeded the basic level of advocacy training and are categorized as intermediate or advanced advocates and/or crisis responders.