Choctaw Nation ABC 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) 2017 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 goal of the Choctaw Nation ABC (Attendance! Believing in Choctaw Youth) Project is to reduce chronic absenteeism in participating Choctaw K-12 youth in nine school districts in four counties of rural southeastern Oklahoma in a culturally centered approach. ABC Project will hire a Case Manager who has experience with Native American youth and in providing services to Native American families. Once hired, the project staff will use the Mizuni database system which collects school data from the State of Oklahoma daily and makes reporting available for queries from participating schools. Memorandums of Understanding with Choctaw Nation territory school districts and through cooperating Choctaw Nation services make Mizuni’s database collection service available to the ABC Project at no cost to the program. The ABC Project staff will be able to quickly determine which students are identified chronically absent, determine the root-cause of the absenteeism, assist in providing services to students and families, and make referrals to partners when necessary. Students in Kindergarten through 12th grade will be identified and tracked through Mizuni data weekly to prevent absenteeism and intervene at an earlier point. The Case Manager will meet with at least 15 students who are identified as chronically absent on a weekly basis at school, or at home as necessary. ABC Project will host informational parent meetings at each of the nine schools twice per school year to educate the parents on the truancy laws in the State, the school district’s policy regarding absenteeism, and Choctaw Nation services available to families, focusing on the ABC Project. The Case Manager and Project Director will make program information available at various other events in the Choctaw Nation as well.
CA/NCF