Tribal Communities To Receive Funds To Improve Public Safety
Four Montana tribal communities will receive more than $3 million in Department of Justice grants to improve public safety and to serve crime victims, U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson has announced.
The four grants are among 137 grants to 85 American Indian and Alaska Native communities, totaling $73 million, announced this week during the virtual White House Tribal Nations Summit. These funds are designed to help enhance tribal justice systems and strengthen law enforcement, improve the handling of child abuse cases, combat domestic violence and support tribal youth programs.
“I am pleased that these Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation funds will be going to four of Montana’s tribal nations. This money will provide critical support to help tribes strengthen public safety and address the challenges of violent crime too often experienced in their communities,” Johnson said.
The grants total $3,081,878 and are being awarded to:
• Fort Peck Assiniboine Sioux Tribes: Public Safety and Community Policing, $899,960; and Children’s Justice Act Partnerships for Indian Communities, $323,860.
• Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation: Tribal Youth Program, $508,245.
• The Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation: Tribal Justice Systems, $899,813.
• Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation: Children’s Justice Act Partnerships for Indian Communities, $450,000. More than four in five of American Indian and Alaska Native adults have experienced some form of violence in their lifetime, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This equates to nearly three million people who have experienced stalking, sexual violence, psychological aggression or physical violence by intimate partners.
More than $73 million will be awarded under CTAS, a streamlined application which helps tribes apply for tribal-specific grant programs that enhance law enforcement and tribal justice practices, expand victim services and sustain crime prevention and intervention efforts. CTAS grants are administered by the Office of Justice Programs ($48 million) and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) ($25 million).
In addition to CTAS funding, OJP has awarded more than $100 million through the Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside to improve services for crime victims in Tribal communities. OJP’s Office for Victims Crime is supporting tribal grantees with capacity building, training and technical assistance (more than $6.8 million) and an update of the Tribal Resource Tool ($199,999), which maps the availability of victim services in tribal communities. An additional $2.9 million will be awarded under the Children’s Justice Act Partnership to tribes to enhance the handling of cases centered around criminal child abuse and neglect.
Information about FY 2021 grant awards from the Office of Justice Programs can be found online on the OJP Grant Awards Page. The page will be updated as awards are made.
Information about FY 2021 grant awards from the COPS Office can be found online at the COPS Grant Page. Information about FY 2021 grant awards from the COPS Office can be found online at the COPS Grant Page.
The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance and other resources to improve the nation’s capacity to prevent and reduce crime, advance racial equity in the administration of justice, assist victims and enhance the rule of law. More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov. More information about the COPS Office can be found at www.cops. gov.
