CPN FY2017 CTAS Purpose Area 9: Tribal Youth Program - Combatting the School-to-Prison Pipeline

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 Citizen Potawatomi Nation (CPN) tribe will implement a Tribal youth program that employs culture, academic success, and prevention to combat the negative effects of the school-to-prison pipeline in the CPN service area. This goal will be accomplished via the following overarching actions: 1) identify and implement strong curricula or curricular models/activities for prevention programming, college and career readiness, and mentorship/leadership, and the staff will build or adapt TYP curricula to ensure it is grounded in Potawatomi culture, 2) increase engagement with the larger CPN community by providing regular community activities, and 3) continue to provide ongoing academic services: tutoring, IEP & GPA tracking, and college and career readiness training. Based on the input received from youth, parents, focus groups, and talking circles, CPN identified a holistic approach to combat the negative effects of the school-to-prison pipeline in the CPN service area. This approach includes afterschool programming that promotes cultural learning and development of Native identity along with academic success and family engagement. The program will operate 5 days per week from 3:45-6:30pm each evening and once a month community events during the weekend. It will serve tribal youth with targeted, age-appropriate programming. CA/NCF