The Department of Justice announced 206 awards, totaling more than $97 million, to American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, tribal consortia and tribal designees on Wednesday, Sept. 16. Among those awardees is the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians which is set to receive $1,369,447 in two grants.
The tribe will receive $469,466 from the Public Safety and Community Policing (COPS) grant and $899,981 from the Violence Against Women Tribal Governments Program.
“The money will be used for salaries, staff travel for training and legal representation for victims,” Iva Key, EBCI Domestic Violence Program manager said of the domestic violence grant money. “This is a three-year grant, and the funds ensure service delivery will not be interrupted and victims receive legal representation for civil domestic violence related cases until resolution.”
The awards are made through the department’s Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS), a single application for tribal-specific grant programs. The department developed CTAS through its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Office of Justice Programs and Office on Violence Against Women and administered the first round of consolidated grants in September 2010.
“For the past five years, the CTAS program has helped tribes develop their own comprehensive approaches to making their communities safer and healthier,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery. “CTAS grants have funded hundreds of programs to better serve crime victims, promote community policing and strengthen justice systems.”
– DOJ, One Feather staff contributed to this report
