Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma - FY2017 CTAS - Purpose Area 9

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 systems for American Indian/Alaska Native youth.

The Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma is proposing the development of a youth organization/club (Youth’ Active Leadership and Liberty “Y’ALL”) to reduce 1) youth truancy and school drop-out, 2) teen pregnancy, 3) drug and alcohol abuse, 4) teen suicide and 5) delinquency. Our Y’ALL goal is to develop youth leadership by providing prevention and intervention education/activities relating to peer pressures and counseling services to local Indian youth. Y’ALL principles will be twofold: 1) teaching kids leadership skills and living up to their potential and rewarding them by their actions with organizational power, community recognition, and empowering activities and 2) mentoring youth how to end the cycle of violence and contribute to Ponca culture through advocacy, leadership, community work, spending time with family, and carrying on Ponca lifeways: values, democracy, arts, language, and ceremonies. The Y’ALL program can teach youth what is expected of them and give them purpose. When a person believes they have the power to make change, rather than just letting change happen to them, they can begin to take leadership of themselves and achieve personal liberty; their actions can result in civil liberty within the community.
CA/NCF