The Eastern Shoshone Cross-Age Peer Education (E.S.C.A.P.E) Mentoring 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 purpose of the Eastern Shoshone Cross-Age Peer Education (E.S.C.A.P.E.) Project is to coordinate a mentoring program that promotes positive youth development, supporting and enhancing the Eastern Shoshone Tribe's efforts to prevent and control juvenile delinquency. The Eastern Shoshone Cross-Age Peer Education project will provide connectedness, promote self-efficacy and improve academic achievement amongst Tribal youth. The Eastern Shoshone Cross-Age Peer Education project will help improve Tribal Youth in their ability to communicate and to become more responsible and it will forge a stronger connection to their community and school. The specific goals and objectives of the Eastern Shoshone Cross-Age Peer Education Project include providing: 1) prevention services to impact risk factors for delinquency; 2) suicide crisis intervention; 3) language and culture preservation and traditional healing; 4) alcohol and drug abuse prevention services; 5) prevention and intervention of sexual abuse, violence and bullying; 6) policy and infrastructure development for prevention services on the Wind River Reservation; and 7) training to expand prevention service capacity. The Eastern Shoshone Cross-Age Peer Education project will utilize several evidence-based programs and will track outcomes via pre/post test scores.

CA/NCF