NOVA has some 60,000 contacts with victims every year, referring most to services near their home through directories that list some 10,000 programs, but serving as the primary counselor and advocate for many victims at any given time. Contacts come to NOVA directly from the 24-hour hotline (1-800-TRY-NOVA), from letters, faxes, and e-mails, and from people who visit the Washington office. Due to public service announcements on national television and references to its national hotline in magazines and newspapers, NOVA’s number is the first point of contact for tens of thousands of otherwise underserved victims, such as those who live in rural areas. Along with the emotional support that NOVA provides over the phone or by responding to letters, NOVA has developed numerous information packets that can be mailed to interested victims/survivors (and other service providers). A series of audio cassette tapes is also available for those who prefer that medium.

NOVA’s hotline became more of a "lifeline" to thousands of victims with the advent of a toll-free number in the early 90’s. The hotline – known as the National Crime Victim Information and Referral Hotline – is the only national toll-free hotline that serves all victims and survivors of violent crime, providing information and referral, crisis counseling, and case advocacy. After the brutal murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, and before the inception of the National Domestic Violence Hotline in February of 1996, NOVA’s hotline was a major source of support for thousands of domestic violence victims seeking support, information, and guidance to find safety.

With the help of trained volunteers, NOVA operates a victim service program in Washington, D.C. to help supplement existing services. NOVA also works with local law enforcement and other agencies to bring services to victims of drug-related crime in Washington’s inner-city. In an effort to encourage networking among local service providers, NOVA founded and incorporated the D.C. Victim Services Network, which has been in operation since 1985. NOVA continues its efforts and commitment to improving the victim service delivery infrastructure in D.C.

NOVA created the concept of sending multi-disciplinary teams to the scenes of major crimes, disasters, and accidents. The National Community Crisis Response Team, which began in 1986 after the murder of 14 people in the post office in Edmond, Oklahoma, has sent trained crisis responders, all volunteers, to n numerous communities which have been traumatized by a catastrophe such the terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City and, since then, the deadly tornadoes that ripped through seven Midwest states, and the shooting of students in West Paducah, KY, Jonesboro, AR and Springfield, OR. NOVA’s Crisis Response Teams have been invited to many communities devastated by major crime; some of those teams have been funded by OVC’s program to fund rapid response victim assistance. See the National Crisis Response Team to further the development of community-based crisis response teams based on the model NOVA has created, OVC funded three series of regional trainings to encourage team-building locally. Another federal agency, the U.S. Department of Education, has worked closely with NOVA to better train and prepare school systems for coping with violence and disasters. Closer to home, NOVA founded the Capital Area Crisis Response Team, an active coalition of volunteers who serve the metropolitan Washington area; and abroad, it has sent teams to war-torn Bosnia and Croatia, and to earthquake-stricken Kobe, Japan.

NOVA’s work in the field of community crisis response has been recognized by other national disaster response agencies. NOVA was accepted as a Class A member of the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD), where NOVA is the only organization to serve crime victims as a "disaster" population. Along the same lines, NOVA works collaboratively with FEMA, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Center for Mental Health Studies. At this writing, NOVA is preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding with Church World Service, whose Emergency Response Office works cooperatively with 34 religious denominations and communions to perform disaster relief work. There is a link to the NVOAD web site in National Crisis Response Team.

NOVA developed a special direct service project – the Hostage Family Project – when American citizens were taken hostage in Lebanon. The project is activated only when needed, but when needed, performs a valuable service for families of American hostages: helping them to network with each other, obtain needed information on the status of efforts to free hostages, a family phone hotline and newsletter, and advocacy with key players in the event. In a related effort, NOVA developed a special booklet on coping with the media when Americans were taken hostage in the Gulf War conflict, and helped with resettlement of Americans and Kuwaiti nationals who were forced to flee the country.

NOVA is a recognized Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) of the United Nations, and works closely with the United Nations on initiatives related to crime and disaster victims and victims of abuse of power. It has twice hosted an Expert Working group of the U.N.’s Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division in the formulation of an international manual on victim assistance.

NOVA compiles and publishes several invaluable directories to help victim advocates provide information and referrals. These include: