Kenaitze Tribal Court Juvenile Healing to 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.

Kenaitze Indian Tribe (KIT) will develop enhanced Juvenile Tribal Healing to Wellness (TH2W) programming that will decrease the number of Alaska Native/American Indian (ANAI) youth under age 21 that are involved in alcohol related crimes on the Kenai Peninsula. This includes youth who are involved in Minor Consuming Alcohol charges and/or any theft, damage to property, or other charges when/where they may have been under the influence of alcohol. Funds will provide prevention and intervention services to youth who have not yet entered the TH2W court, but are identified as having used and/or abused alcohol. KIT's extant youth diversion programs have existed for over six years; TH2W program partners include members of the Kenai Peninsula Diversion Team, comprised of the State of Alaska Division of Juvenile Justice-Kenai Probation Office, the Kenai Peninsula Youth Facility and Kenai Peninsula Youth Court, among others. KIT's TH2W program strategies for engaging youth involved in alcohol related crimes will center on the provision of culturally competent outreach, diversion, recovery and care; the utilization of therapeutic jurisprudence for reducing youth and family recidivism in tribal court; enhancing and expanding affordable treatment options, (including Multi-systemic Therapy) for youth and families requiring alcohol use recovery programs; and, finally, the opportunity for peer support within alcohol recovery programs. KIT's TH2W program will serve 45 youth and families over the course of the project period. CA/NCF