Federal Grant is Among 236 Handed Out by DOJ Totaling more than $273 Million to American Indian and Alaska Native Communities
The Department of Justice has awarded the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (YDSP), a federally recognized Indian Tribe located in El Paso County, a $331,827 federal grant to combat violence against women on their reservation, announced U.S. Attorney John F. Bash.
“Domestic violence is one of the most serious and challenging problems plaguing American society, including Native American communities. This grant will help fund solutions that save lives," stated U.S. Attorney Bash.
The federal grant awarded to the YDSP is part of a $33.1 million funding package offered by the Office on Violence Against Women Tribal Governments Program. According to YDSP officials, the money will be used to recruit one Violence Against Women (VAWA) police officer assigned to cases concerning domestic violence and/or violence against women in YDSP's jurisdiction. By assigning a VAWA police officer to domestic violence and sexual assault cases, the YDSP will be better equipped to follow through with women victim needs to ensure that they receive a continuum of care beginning with response to calls of domestic violence and sexual assault, to linkage with health & human services, and finally through adjudication of cases working closely with Tribal Court, YDSP's Social Services and other essential community organizations. The VAWA officer will also prioritize community outreach as a mechanism to educate the tribal community of such dedicated resources, while providing necessary referrals and assistance to aid victims. The VAWA officer will also collaborate with intra tribal agency partners to design workshops and presentations intended to mitigate the proliferation of domestic violence on the reservation.
Nationwide, 236 grants were awarded to 149 American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages and other tribal designees through the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS), a streamlined application for tribal-specific grant programs. Of the $118 million awarded via CTAS, just over $62.6 million comes from the Office of Justice Programs, about $33.1 million from the Office on Violence Against Women and more than $23.2 million from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. A portion of the funding will support tribal youth mentoring and intervention services, help native communities implement requirements of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, and provide training and technical assistance to tribal communities. Another $5.5 million was funded by OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance to provide training and technical assistance to CTAS awardees.
The Department also announced awards and other programming totaling $167.2 million in a set-aside program to serve victims of crime. The awards are intended to help tribes develop, expand and improve services to victims by supporting programming and technical assistance. About $25.6 million of these awards were awarded under CTAS and are included in the $118 million detailed above.
CTAS funding helps tribes develop and strengthen their justice systems’ response to crime, while expanding services to meet their communities’ public safety needs. The awards cover 10 purpose areas: public safety and community policing; justice systems planning; alcohol and substance abuse; corrections and correctional alternatives; children’s justice act partnerships; services for victims of crime; violence against women; juvenile justice; violent crime reduction; and tribal youth programs.
The Department also provided $6.1 million to help tribes to comply with federal law on sex offender registration and notification, $1.7 million in separate funding to assist tribal youth and nearly $500,000 to support tribal research on missing and murdered indigenous women and children and other public safety-related topics.
Today’s announcement is part of the Justice Department’s ongoing initiative to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
A listing of today’s announced CTAS awards is available at: https://www.justice.gov/tribal/awards. A listing of all other announced tribal awards are available at: https://go.usa.gov/xVJuE.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
