The Department of Justice announced that it has awarded over $273.4 million in grants, including $2.9 million to four tribes in Montana, to improve public safety, serve victims of crime, combat violence against women and support youth programs in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

“Violent crime and domestic abuse in American Indian and Alaska Native communities remain at unacceptably high levels, and they demand a response that is both clear and comprehensive,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “We will continue to work closely with our tribal partners to guarantee they have the resources they need to curb violence and bring healing to the victims most profoundly affected by it.”

In Montana, the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on of the Flathead Reservation, the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe were awarded a total of $2,902,538 in funding.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes received $488,049, the Chippewa Cree Tribe received $250,000, the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes received $1,714,489 and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe received $450,000.

“This funding will help address the unacceptable violence and domestic abuse suffered by many Native American women and girls in Montana.

“Through these grants, tribes will be able to provide more public safety and correctional alternatives for adults and children, along with services to reduce violence against women and support healing. We must continue to work closely with our tribal partners to stop the violence and abuse,” U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

Nationwide, 236 grants were awarded to 149 American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages and other tribal designees through the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation, a streamlined application for tribal-specific grant programs.

Of the $118 million awarded via CTAS, just over $62.6 million comes from the Office of Justice Programs, about $33.1 million from the Office on Violence Against Women and more than $23.2 million from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

A portion of the funding will support tribal youth mentoring and intervention services, help native communities implement requirements of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, and provide training and technical assistance to tribal communities. Another $5.5 million was funded by OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance to provide training and technical assistance to CTAS awardees.

The Department also announced awards and other programming totaling $167.2 million in a set-aside program to serve victims of crime. The awards are intended to help tribes develop, expand and improve services to victims by supporting programming and technical assistance. About $25.6 million of these awards were awarded under CTAS and are included in the $118 million detailed above.

CTAS funding helps tribes develop and strengthen their justice systems’ response to crime, while expanding services to meet their communities’ public safety needs. The awards cover 10 purpose areas: public safety and community policing; justice systems planning; alcohol and substance abuse; corrections and correctional alternatives; children’s justice act partnerships; services for victims of crime; violence against women; juvenile justice; violent crime reduction; and tribal youth programs.

The Department also provided $6.1 million to help tribes to comply with federal law on sex offender registration and notification, $1.7 million in separate funding to assist tribal youth and nearly $500,000 to support tribal research on missing and murdered indigenous women and children and other public safety-related topics.

The announcement is part of the Justice Department’s ongoing initiative to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

A listing of the announced CTAS awards is available at: https://www.justice.gov/tribal/awards. A listing of all other announced tribal awards are available at: https://go.usa.gov/xVJuE.