Department of Justice Awards Over $273.4 Million to Improve Public Safety, Serve Crime Victims in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

Spokane, Washington – William D. Hyslop, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, joined the Department of Justice in announcing awards totaling more than $273.4 million in grants to improve public safety, serve victims of crime, combat violence against women and support youth programs in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

Three of the American Indian communities receiving awards are located in the Eastern District of Washington. The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation was awarded $3,080,006, the Kalispel Indian Community of the Kalispel Reservation was awarded $697,972 and the Colville Tribe was awarded $583,707. The funding for the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation will support the violence against women and crime victim services programs, public safety and community policing, and corrections and correctional alternatives. The funding for the Kalispel Indian Community of the Kalispel Reservation will support justice systems and the alcohol and substance abuse programs. The funding for the Colville Tribe will support the crime victim services program.

“Violent crime and domestic abuse in American Indian and Alaska Native communities remain at unacceptably high levels, and they demand a response that is both clear and comprehensive,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “We will continue to work closely with our tribal partners to guarantee they have the resources they need to curb violence and bring healing to the victims most profoundly affected by it.”

United States Attorney Hyslop said, “These grants will give Tribal officials additional tools they need to fight violent crime, protect their citizens, serve crime victims, and deliver justice. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington is committed to working with our Tribal, federal, state and local law enforcement partners to reduce violent crime and improving public safety.”

Nationwide, 236 grants were awarded to 149 American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages and other tribal designees through the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation, 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.