Omaha Tribal Youth Program

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) 2012 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 Omaha Tribe of Nebraska aims to prevent and reduce truancy, and to encourage culturally appropriate replacement behaviors in delinquent and at-risk youth. This fits a long term Omaha Tribe of Nebraska goal of reestablishing cultural interest, identity, and pride among the tribal youth so they become adults with increased life and work skills that can increase the value of the Tribe's human resources. The main objective is to establish a tribally-sponsored Omaha Nation Youth Development (ONYD) project that offers a suite of activities for serving tribal youth. The ONYD will include several components: cultural preservation activities, a school year work program, after school activities, and a life skills educational component. All activities emphasize cultural preservation and core tribal values including responsibility, self-improvement and sensitivity to natural resources which promote respect, discipline, and sobriety. A priority of the project is to keep youth out of Juvenile Court, and to address truancy and drop-out rates. Another key objective is to provide Positive Indian Parenting to parents of participants. The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska will monitor progress by compiling, tracking and analyzing data.

CA/NCF