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Press Release

Justice Department Announces Funding Opportunities to Support Public Safety in Indian Country

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

The U.S. Department of Justice today announced the opening of the grant solicitation period for comprehensive funding to Indian Country to support crime prevention, victim services, and coordinated community responses to violence against native women.

The Department’s FY 2019 Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation, or CTAS, posts today online at www.justice.gov/tribal/open-solicitations. The solicitation contains details about available grants and describes how federally-recognized tribes, tribal consortia and Alaska Native villages can apply for the funds.

“Public safety professionals serving American Indian and Alaska Native communities frequently find themselves under-resourced and over-extended,” said Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio. “This funding will give tribal officials the tools they need to fight violent crime, protect their citizens, serve victims, and deliver justice.”

The funding from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) can be used to for a variety of public safety and justice-related projects and services. Funds can be used to enhance law enforcement; bolster adult and juvenile justice systems; prevent and control juvenile delinquency; serve native victims of crimes such as child abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, and elder abuse; improve responses to violence against native women; and support other efforts to combat crime.

New to FY 2019 CTAS is funding designated specifically to address violent crime in native communities (Purpose Area 10). Additionally, the Comprehensive Tribal Victim Assistance Program will be replaced by the Tribal Victim Services Program (Purpose Area 7) in FY 2019. This new program will provide funding to a higher number of applicants and provides funding for a broad range of activities, including a needs assessment, strategic planning, program development and implementation, program expansion, and other actions to address the victim service needs of tribes.

Applications for CTAS are submitted online through the Department’s Grants Management System, or “GMS.” Applicants must register with GMS prior to submitting an application. The application deadline is 9 p.m. EDT, Feb. 26, 2019.  Applicants will submit a single application and select from any or all of the 10 competitive grant programs, referred to as “purpose areas.” This approach allows the Department’s grant-making components to consider the totality of a tribal nation’s overall public safety needs.  

The 10 purpose areas are:

  • COPS Office’s Public Safety and Community Policing
  • Comprehensive Tribal Justice Systems Strategic Planning
  • BJA’s Tribal Justice Systems
  • BJA’s Tribal Justice System Infrastructure Program
  • OVW’s Violence Against Women Tribal Governments Program
  • OVC’s Children’s Justice Act Partnerships for Indian Communities
  • OVC’s Tribal Victim Services Program
  • OJJDP’s Juvenile Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts
  • OJJDP’s Tribal Youth Program
  • BJA’s Addressing Violent Crime in Native Communities

 

Fact sheets detailing each of the individual purpose areas can be found online at: www.justice.gov/tribal/grants. The Department will also facilitate a series of webinars to guide applicants through the CTAS application requirements. Details, including how to register for these webinars, will be made available online in coming weeks at www.justice.gov/tribal/open-solicitations.

Additionally, tribes and tribal consortia may also be eligible for non-tribal federal grant programs and are encouraged to explore other funding opportunities, which may be found at DOJ’s Tribal Justice and Safety website at www.justice.gov/tribal/open-solicitations or the www.grants.gov website.

In FY 2018, the Department funded 125 tribes with 225 awards across nine grant programs totaling more than $113 million.

CTAS is administered by the Department’s Office of Justice Programs, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and Office on Violence Against Women.

Today’s announcement is part of the DOJ’s ongoing initiative to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in tribal communities.

Updated November 28, 2018

Topic
Indian Country Law and Justice
Press Release Number: 18-1562