JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES GRANT SOLICITATION FOR FUNDING TO FEDERALLY-RECOGNIZED TRIBES AND TRIBAL CONSORTIA

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Justice today announced that the comprehensive grant solicitation for funding to support improvements to public safety, victim services and crime prevention in American Indian and Alaska Native communities will be posted at 3:00 p.m. EST today at http://www.justice.gov/tribal/open-sol.html.

All materials will be accessible today for review. The Community Partnerships Grants Management System will begin accepting electronic applications on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012.

“We are committed to helping strengthen and sustain safe and healthy American Indian and Alaska Native communities with a funding process that is responsive and coordinated,” said Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli. “This effort to streamline the grant application process, with multiple purpose areas, offers tribes and tribal consortia an opportunity to develop a comprehensive and community-based approach to public safety and support for victims.”

A total of more than $101.4 million is available through the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) and is administered by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). The funding can be used to conduct comprehensive planning, enhance law enforcement, bolster justice systems, support and enhance tribal efforts to prevent and control delinquency and strengthen the juvenile justice system, prevent youth substance abuse, serve sexual assault and elder victims, and support other efforts to combat crimes. To view the fact sheet on the FY 2012 CTAS, visit http://www.justice.gov//tribal/ctas2012/ctas-factsheet.pdf.

The updated FY 2012 CTAS reflects improvements and refinements from earlier versions. Feedback was provided to the department during tribal consultations and listening sessions, from a specially developed assessment tool about the application experience and from written comments from applicants and grantees.

That feedback was incorporated in the following changes to the FY 2012 CTAS:

• a new strategic planning pilot program;

• a question and answer template option;

• adjustment to purpose areas to allow for greater flexibility in funding requests; and

• a request for data on tribe demographics to better capture and describe the unique characteristics of each tribe.

For the FY2012 CTAS, a tribe or tribal consortium will submit a single application and select from 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 community’s overall public safety needs. The deadline for submitting applications in response to this grant announcement is 9:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, April 18, 2012.

The 10 purpose areas are:

• Children’s Justice Act Partnerships for Indian Communities

• Comprehensive Planning Demonstration Program

• Comprehensive Tribal Victim Assistance Program

• Corrections and Correctional Alternatives

• Justice Systems and Alcohol and Substance Abuse

• Juvenile Justice

• Public Safety and Community Policing

• Tribal Governments Program

• Tribal Sexual Assault Services Program

• Tribal Youth Program

Tribes or tribal consortia may also be eligible for non-tribal government-specific federal grant programs and are encouraged to explore other funding opportunities for which they may be eligible. Additional funding information may be found at http://www.grants.gov or the websites of individual agencies.

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