DOJ announces more than $107 million to improve safety, services for American Indians

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today announced more than $107 million in grants to American Indian and Alaska Native communities to improve public safety help victims and strengthen tribal institutions.  The announcement was made at the Eighth Annual White House Tribal Nations Conference, taking place today and tomorrow.  This amount includes 236 grants under the department’s Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS), totaling more than $102 million, to 131 American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, tribal consortia and tribal designees.  In addition, the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) announced seven awards worth more than $2 million to help tribes develop plans for implementing changes in their criminal justice systems necessary to exercise their jurisdiction over domestic violence crimes as outlined in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013.
 
Also included in the awards announced today are six awards totaling more than $3 million in juvenile justice grants to support the American Indian/Alaska Native Defending Childhood Policy Initiative and a National Institute of Justice grant to study sex trafficking in Indian country.
 
“These vital grants support everything from hiring law enforcement officers to empowering native youth, giving tribes the resources they need to meet the particular challenges facing their communities,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch.  “We are also proud to continue support for those tribes exercising greater authority over crimes of domestic violence under the VAWA 2013 tribal provisions, the direct result of a proposal by this Justice Department and written into law by Congress that is today making communities safer and stronger.” 
 
         CTAS provides a single application for tribal-specific grant programs.  The department developed CTAS to streamline support provided through its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Office of Justice Programs and OVW and awarded the first round of consolidated grants in September 2010.
 
Since then, under CTAS, more than 1,600 grants totaling more than $726 million have been provided to enhance law enforcement practices, victim services and sustain crime prevention and intervention efforts in nine 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; and tribal youth programs.
 
American Indians and Alaska Natives experience disproportionate rates of violence and victimization and often encounter significant obstacles to accessing culturally relevant services.  CTAS funding helps tribes to develop and strengthen tribal justice systems’ response to crime, while significantly increasing programs and services available to them.
 
A listing of today’s CTAS awards can be found here.  A fact sheet on CTAS is available at www.justice.gov/tribal/grants.
 
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.
 
Read more about the special domestic violence jurisdiction provisions in VAWA 2013: www.justice.gov/tribal/violence-against-women-act-vawa-reauthorization-2013-0