DOJ funds programs for juveniles in six Western Washington tribal communities

Seattle – More than $2 million in grants from the Department of Justice have been awarded to Western Washington tribal communities to enhance services for juveniles, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. The grants fund needs ranging from substance abuse and mental health treatment to academic support and getting students engaged in school.

“Each of these tribes submitted detailed proposals for how they could best use this federal money,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Gorman. “It is exciting to see how they will impact the lives of the youngest tribal members as they work to build safe and healthy communities into the future.”

The six tribal grants and their purpose are:

Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians - $499,700 to hire an online school support specialist to assist with tribal youth as risk of truancy and to develop programs to engage all youth in leadership and cultural activities.

Quinault Indian Nation - $500,000 to enhance the work of the Tribal Juvenile to Healing Wellness Court to centralize access to assistance for youth facing challenges such as substance addiction, mental health issues, absenteeism, and trauma.

Nooksack Tribe -$99,439 to assess current programming for youth and identify gaps and strategies for improvement.

Lummi Nation - $100,000 to coordinate services to tribal youth.

Nisqually Indian Tribe - $400,000 to develop a Juvenile Tribal Healing to Wellness Court - part of a comprehensive effort on behalf of the Tribe to address the increasingly serious problem of alcohol and opioid/drug use, and related crime, within the reservation population and among Tribal youth and young adults.

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe - $500,000 for drug and alcohol prevention services through the Empowering Youth through the Ways of Our Ancestors (EYWOA) program. The program is based on evidence- and community-based participatory research that was conducted and implemented in partnership with the University of Washington’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, the Suquamish, and Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribes.

These grants are part of the Consolidated Tribal Assistant Grants for 2023 awarded by the Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance.