Nadine M. Neufville

On January 21, 2021 Nadine M. Neufville became Acting Director of the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) in the U.S. Department of Justice. Ms. Neufville has served as OVW’s Deputy Director for Grant Development and Management since July 2012.  As Deputy Director, Ms. Neufville provides oversight and guidance for OVW’s grants administration and grants management policies and processes, directing the programmatic and financial management of OVW’s 19 discretionary and formula federal grant programs (with an annual appropriation of approximately $500 million) and the roughly 2200 grant awards administered by OVW, a number of special/demonstration projects, and OVW’s Training and Technical Assistance Initiative.  In her capacity as Deputy Director, Ms. Neufville has served as the OVW point-of-contact for a number of special initiatives and collaborative projects, including the White House Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable, OVW’s Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention Demonstration Initiative, and the DOJ Grants Challenges Working Group which is charged with improving coordination on grant related matters between the Office of Justice Programs, the Office of Community Oriented Policing, and OVW.  Prior to becoming Deputy Director in June 2012, Ms. Neufville served as an Associate Director with OVW for more than a decade.

Throughout her tenure at OVW Ms. Neufville has also had oversight responsibility for projects related to the enforcement of federal domestic violence firearms prohibitions and the issuance and enforcement of protection orders, including implementation of the Full Faith and Credit Provision of the Violence Against Women Act.  Related to her protection order work, Ms. Neufville had the honor of representing the United States delegation to The Hague in its consideration of a Convention on the Enforcement of Protection Orders.

Since joining OVW in 1996, Ms. Neufville has been centrally involved in OVW’s efforts to offer ground- breaking educational opportunities for the cohort of professionals responsible for the justice system’s response to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.  She firmly believes that grant funds without the appropriate accompanying education can be more dangerous to survivor safety and well-being than the absence of grant funds.  Conversely - researched, survivor-informed education and peer-to-peer exchange can change an individual practitioner’s performance, debunk myths, enhance an entire community’s response, and bring to light both unintended consequences and promising practices.   To this end, she has spearheaded a number of critical projects, including, efforts to expand the community of OVW’s training and technical providers, enhance connections between providers, and improve access to information regarding available training and resources.  Her current efforts include establishing standards for the delivery of OVW training and technical assistance.  

Ms. Neufville received her undergraduate degree from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. She is admitted to the Maryland Bar. She can be contacted through the Office on Violence Against Women at (202) 307-6026 or by emailing her at OVW.Director@usdoj.gov.