Washoe Tribe Juvenile Probation Project

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 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 Washoe Tribe’s repeat offender prevention program serves Tribal youth ages 8 – 17. The repeat offender prevention program focuses on (1) families, (2) rehabilitation and (3) therapeutic outcomes. This program prevents re-offending among juvenile offenders by offering individualized and comprehensive prevention services to include identification of risk factors (red flags) and wrap-around services that address these factors. They partner with parents, family members and significant people in each juvenile’s life. Included are accountability measures; competence building services; and support services, such as drug education, anger management skills, rational problem solving skills, individual and family counseling, and substance abuse treatment. They provide support, monitoring, ongoing reassessment and refinement of the plan when needed. They compare key demographic and risk factors, as well as services received; school attendance; school performance; probation violations; and re-offending behavior. In addition, they provide individualized, intensive supervision to each juvenile, with constant assessments and monitoring together with coordinated social service components, including family members, school, community elders, and community leaders. The program is culturally sensitive and strength-based (assessing a person/family’s strengths and building on them). They monitor arrests; successful completion of probation; victim restitution and/or community service work; time served in jail; days of school attendance; and grade point average. Youth learn to honor their culture and heritage through hands on experiences from guest speakers, and elders, attending these cultural events. The program will identify police officers (male and female) who are interested in working as mentors and role models with their juvenile probationers. These officers meet one on one with probationers, go on wilderness expeditions and participate in cultural activities with them. CA/NCF