Squaxin Island Tribe's Change How U Manage (CHUM) 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 Squaxin Island Tribe aims to increase resiliency and prevent delinquency among Tribal youth ages 12-17 by providing afterschool and summer center-based opportunities to develop social, work, and study skills in a safe, supportive, and culturally-integrated environment. The Change How U Manage (CHUM) Project provides culturally meaningful prevention services to impact risk factors for delinquency, including risk factor identification, truancy prevention programs, school dropout prevention programs and afterschool programs. Objectives include: 1) increasing the opportunities for Squaxin youth ages 12-17 to receive academic support, culturally-relevant life skills development, cultural teachings and supportive service referrals in a safe, supervised and welcoming teen-centered environment; 2) decreasing by 15 percent the total count of juvenile delinquency among Squaxin youth ages 12-17 by the end of the three-year project; and 3) decreasing by 10 percent the school drop-out rate among Squaxin youth involved in the three-year project. The Squaxin Island Tribe will monitor progress by tracking data on youth participation, behavioral changes and delinquency rates; input and feedback collected from youth, families, Tribal leadership, school staff and the community through a customized database.

CA/NCF