Togiak 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) 2013 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 9--Tribal Youth Program (TYP) to federally recognized tribes to develop and implement programs that support and enhance Tribal efforts to prevent and control juvenile delinquency and strengthen juvenile justice system for American Indian/Alaska Native youth.

The Traditional Council of Togiak will use OJJDP funds to address the identified issues of juvenile delinquency and substance abuse through four main approaches. The first approach will be to incorporate traditions and culture into treating youth drug/alcohol use and other behavioral problems by providing behavioral health counseling in a Yupik traditional context. This will be done by supporting an Elder Counselor - who is an expert in their culture. This type of counseling is not offered in the conventional behavioral health treatment field practiced in the western world. The second approach will be to engage at-risk youth in activities centered on culture preservation, which will incorporate self-pride and ultimately encourage youth to stay in school. This program includes an emphasis on utilizing education to succeed in the western world and maintaining cultural ties for positive self-identity. The third area of focus will be to provide prevention and intervention services to teach girls and skills needed to resist substance abuse and prevent teen pregnancy by utilizing the teaching of Elders. The final approach will be to implement the Tribal Court best practices that have been developed over the past three years through a grant by the DOJ.
CA/NCF