Togiak Healing to Wellness Court

The Justice Department's grant-making components have created a streamlined approach for federally recognized Tribes, Tribal consortia, Alaska Native villages and corporations, as well as authorized tribal designees to apply for Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 funding opportunities. The Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) serves as a single solicitation for existing tribal government-specific grant programs 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 CTAS solicitation is designed to assist tribes with addressing crime and public safety issues in a comprehensive manner. The CTAS grant-application process was inspired by and developed after consultation with tribal leaders, including sessions at the Justice Department's Tribal Nations Listening Session in 2009, and has been updated based on continued tribal consultations and listening sessions. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides awards under CTAS Purpose Area 8--Juvenile Healing to Wellness Courts. The overall goal of this program is to enhance the capacity of tribal courts to respond to the alcohol-related issues of youth under the age of 21. This can include the development of a new juvenile healing to wellness court or enhancements to an existing tribal healing to wellness court.

The first goal will be to strengthen and implement the Traditional Council of Togiak and state of Alaska Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) diversion agreement. Beginning work will be to develop and implement the diversion court agreement followed by developing protocols for a diversion program and written sanctions/incentives for a youth program. The Tribal Court will hold two Tribal Court hearings a month to hear juvenile cases. The second goal will be to schedule Circle of Life teachings for every season for family members in a camp setting. The Court Judges will meet quarterly with service providers to plan for quarterly Yupik activities and teaching. The program will also implement Yupik cultural activities and teaching utilizing local elders and service providers. In addition, the program will provide case management support for juvenile offenders. CA/NCF