“The 2013 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that, among high school students who have had a dating relationship, 20.9% of female students and 10.4% of male students experienced some form of dating violence, whether physical or sexual, with all health-risk behaviors being most prevalent among students who experienced both physical and sexual abuse.
Program Overview
STEP (Services, Training, Education and Policies) Program
The Services, Training, Education and Policies to Reduce Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking in Secondary Schools Grant Program (STEP Program) supports middle and high schools in developing and implementing effective training, services, prevention strategies, policies, and coordinated community responses for students who are victims of, or exposed to, physical and/or sexual violence.
The Consolidated Grant Program to Address Children and Youth Experiencing Domestic and Sexual Assault and Engage Men and Boys as Allies (Consolidated Youth or CY Program) has received appropriations in FYs 2013 through 2016. This program, which consolidated four programs previously authorized under earlier iterations of VAWA, including the STEP Program, funds projects that support child, youth, and young adult victims through direct services, training, coordination
and collaboration, effective intervention, treatment, response, and prevention strategies. The last grants made under the STEP Program were awarded in FY 2011.