Three area tribes and others throughout Washington have been awarded grants from the U.S. Department of Justice to strengthen the tribal court systems dealing with domestic and sexual violence and provide support to victims.
The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation was awarded $826,017 and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe was awarded $900,000 to aid in strengthening their criminal justice programs for dealing with domestic violence and for providing resources and support to victims. The grants run for the next one to three years.
The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded grants totaling more than $9.8 million to support victims of domestic and sexual violence in Western Washington, according to U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.
Another $13 million was awarded to 10 tribes, including the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation which received $750,000 to strengthen their tribal court systems and $369.213 to support services for crime victims. The Quinault Indian Nation in Taholah was awarded $480,187 to enhance victim services.
“These grants provide a wide range of services in our tribal communities — everything from services for crime victims to sex offender monitoring, to reducing alcohol and drug related crime,” said U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.
A grant was awarded to fund a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney to work with the FBI’s Northwestern Washington Safe Trails Task Force to prosecute crime in tribal communities.
