Janelle Melohn is the Director of the OVC Center for Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Administrators. The OVC VOCA Center is a national training and technical assistance provider for VOCA Victim Assistance and Victim Compensation State Administering Agencies (SAAs). The VOCA Center supports SAAs in managing and administering their VOCA funding to advance programming and creating healing opportunities for all victims of crime. The VOCA Center provides technical assistance through peer to peer support, training opportunities, problem-solving and innovation to strengthen VOCA-funded services, to create greater access and equity for historically underserved communities and to advance promising practices, policies and programs.

Prior to joining NCJA, Janelle served as the Director of the Crime Victim Assistance Division in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. In her 15 years at the Iowa AGO, she oversaw a staff of 30 individuals, an annual budget of $45 million dollars and eight statewide programs aiding victims of crime. These programs included Crime Victim Compensation, Sexual Abuse Examination Payment, Victim Services Support grants, IowaVINE a statewide automated victim notification system, the Identity Theft Passport Program, Registrant Watch an automated victim notification partnership with Department of Public Safety, and Training, Outreach, Advocacy and Anti-Human Trafficking efforts.

Janelle is a current Board of Trustees member of the National Council on Criminal Justice. She is a past president of the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators and served multiple terms as a board member for the National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards. In addition, she was asked to serve on the Iowa Governor’s Criminal Justice Reform Committee, the Friends of Iowa Civil Rights Inc and the Iowa Sex Offender Research Council. Janelle holds a Master of Public Administration from Drake University with an emphasis in executive development and a B.S. in Sociology from Iowa State University.