Spirit Lake Shunka Wakan Ah-ku Program

Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. launched a Department-wide initiative on public safety and victim services in Tribal communities. As part of this effort, Department of Justice (DOJ) leadership conducted a series of meetings across the country addressing violent crime in Tribal communities. As a result, DOJ developed the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, combining DOJ's existing Tribal government-specific competitive solicitations into one, and thus requiring only one application from each Tribe or Tribal consortium. This approach provides federally-recognized Tribes and Tribal consortia the opportunity to develop a comprehensive approach to public safety and victimization issues. This award was selected under Purpose Area #8, Prevent and control delinquency and improve the juvenile justice system (OJJDP-Tribal Youth Program - TYP), CFDA #16.731, authorized under the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2010, Division B, Title II, Public Law 111-117, 123 Stat. 3122, 3134.

The current Spirit Lake Reservation was established by Treaty in 1867 between the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Bands and the United States Government. The Spirit Lake Tribe (SLT) is part of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Band of Mississippi and originally resided in Minnesota prior to the 1862 Dakota Uprising. SLT aims to: 1) provide prevention services to impact risk factors for delinquency; 2) provide interventions for court-involved Tribal youth, including diversion and mentoring; and 3) improve the Tribal juvenile Justice System including the development of indigenous justice strategies. Objectives include: 1) working with the youth before they become court-involved by accepting referrals for juveniles who have started down the wrong path but who have yet to be formally charged in Tribal Court or who have no existing juvenile court record; 2) expanding a 12-week hands-on horse culture diversion program (Shunka Wakan Ah-ku Program) delivered quarterly and serving 100 court-referred juveniles annually; and 3)providing mental health and drug screenings for program participants.
CA/NCF