Menominee Tribal Juvenile Healing and Wellness 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) 2015 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 8--Juvenile Healing to Wellness Courts. The overall goal of this program is to enhance the capacity of tribal courts to respond to the alcohol-related issues of youth under the age of 21. This can include the development of a new juvenile healing to wellness court or enhancements to an existing tribal healing to wellness court.

The Youth Development and Outreach (YDO) seeks to address the crime and public safety problems through the creation and execution of a Tribal Youth Prevention Program. The alcohol use amongst Menominee youth ages 11-17 is significant with 9.6% of students having been treated for alcohol or other drug problems, 22.4% of students having attended school under the influence of alcohol or other illegal drugs, 21.8% of students drank alcohol in the past 30 days, and 8.3% of students having driven a car or other vehicle when they have been drinking alcohol (2014 Youth Risk Behavior Survey). YDO seeks to address this problem through the creation and execution of a Restorative Justice Program serving youth under the age of 21. The program will be a referral based program where youth offenders will receive case management, an initial assessment, education/awareness services, support group/talking circles, reconciliation/peacemaking circles, community service options, and follow-up.

The goal is to create and implement a Juvenile Wellness Court so that the Bad River youth can receive culturally appropriate sanctions and rewards at the voices of their elders and become productive members of the tribe through their rehabilitation. Currently all juvenile justice claims are heard in the Ashland County as the Bad River Tribe does not have a Juvenile Wellness Court. This does not allow the juveniles of the Bad River to engage with their elders and receive rewards and sanctions that are culturally relevant and enhance the community. Instead, it removes the power and influence from the Tribe and gives it to the County which is unable to individualize its rulings and offers little rehabilitation to the offender resulting in increased recidivism. The objectives of the program include: (1) To provide case management to at least 75 youth (ages 8-17) and 45 young adults (ages 18-20) by the end of the three year period; (2) Provide at least four general support talking circles for youth throughout the community resulting in twelve total general support talking circles by the end of the three year grant period; and (3) Provide at least 12 community awareness events that promote an alcohol and drug free lifestyles by the end of the three year grant period.
CA/NCF