The U.S. Department of Justice today announced the opening of the grant solicitation period for comprehensive funding to tribal communities to support crime prevention, victim services, and coordinated community responses to violence against native women.
The Department’s FY 2020 Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation, or CTAS, posts today online at https://www.justice.gov/tribal/open-solicitations. The solicitation contains details about available grants and describes how federally-recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments and tribal consortia can apply for funding to aid in developing a comprehensive and coordinated approach to public safety and victimization.
“Increasing public safety, reducing violent crime and servicing crime victims — especially women and children — across American Indian and Alaska Native communities is a top priority for the Justice Department,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “We will continue to provide funding to tribes and villages to bolster law enforcement, protect citizens and provide justice.”
“Let there be no doubt that Attorney General William Barr is deeply committed to improving public safety in Indian Country,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “United States Attorneys and victim advocates around the country see firsthand the detrimental impact of violent crime, especially against Native American women. I applaud the Justice Department’s historic commitment of grants to tribal communities and encourage all our tribal partners to apply.”
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 Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) can be used 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.
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. EST, Feb. 25, 2020. Applicants will submit a single application and select from any or all of the eight 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 eight purpose areas are:
- COPS Office’s Public Safety and Community Policing
- Comprehensive Tribal Justice Systems Strategic Planning
- BJA’s Tribal Justice Systems Program
- 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
- OJJDP’s Juvenile Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts
- OJJDP’s Tribal Youth Program
The Department of Justice has incorporated feedback from tribal meetings, listening sessions, consultations and other methods into this year’s solicitation. Accordingly, the Department has streamlined the application process to reduce requirements for repetitive input from applicants. For example, the application’s required question and answer templates have been refined across the purpose areas to ensure greater clarify and reduce duplication. Also, previously required documents such as the tribal authority to apply have been eliminated (except for tribal designees) to reduce the burden on applicants.
To address tribal feedback about long-term sustained funding, the Justice Department is making changes to award lengths. For Fiscal Year 2020, awards under the following Purpose Areas will be made for 60 months for:
- COPS Office’s Public Safety and Community Policing (hiring officers)
- Comprehensive Tribal Justice Systems Strategic Planning
- BJA’s Tribal Justice Systems Program
- BJA’s Tribal Justice System Infrastructure Program
- OJJDP’s Juvenile Tribal Healing to Wellness Courts
- OJJDP’s Tribal Youth Program
Also new to Fiscal Year 2020 is a change to OVW’s Violence Against Women Tribal Governments Program. Awards will be made for up to $900,000 for 36 months. At the end of the 36-month period, grantees may be eligible to receive 24 months of additional noncompetitive funding up to $600,000 to continue their projects.
Additionally, the scope of BJA’s Tribal Justice System Infrastructure Program (Purpose Area 4) has been expanded to fund support of physical infrastructure projects related to domestic violence shelters, safe homes, transitional living facilities, and advocacy programs. Purpose Area 4 will also include funding for adding associated capacity, equipment, and infrastructure to support staff training, fitness and wellness.
This year’s solicitation will not include two purpose areas included in previous years: OVC’s Tribal Victim Services Program (Purpose Area 7) and BJA’s Addressing Violent Crime in Native Communities (Purpose Area 10). OVC’s Victims Services Program will be offered via a stand-alone solicitation separate from CTAS. Resources to support tribes’ efforts to address investigations and prosecutions of violent crime in native communities will be managed through a separate, targeted process. More details on this program to reduce violent crime in tribal communities will be announced separately.