OVC FY 12 National Field-Generated Demonstration Projects

OVC FY 12 National Field-Generated Demonstration Projects – Two discretionary grants of $750,000 each will be awarded to enhance the capacity of the crime victims field to provide trauma-informed, culturally competent, comprehensive services and support to both adult and child crime victims who experience polyvictimization (also known as multiple victimization or multi-victimization). Applicants must propose to provide enhanced or improved services for these victims through implementation or continuation of a demonstration project developed from a promising practice, model, or program. Eligible applicants must demonstrate knowledge and understanding of polyvictimization, the capacity to partner with other organizations and key stakeholders to deliver comprehensive victim services, and the staff resources and capability to develop or enhance a model for delivery of these services. Those applying are strongly advised to begin the application process well in advance of the May 15, 2012, deadline.

Eligible applicants are limited to private nonprofit organizations (including tribal nonprofit organizations); faith- and community-based organizations; colleges or universities (including tribal institutions of higher education); and public agencies, tribal governments, or tribal organizations that can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of polyvictimization and the capacity to partner with other organizations and key stakeholders to deliver comprehensive victim services. Applicants must have the staff resources and capability to develop or enhance a model for delivery of these services. A private nonprofit organization does not need to have 501(c)(3) status to apply for grant funding under this solicitation. Current Closing Date for Applications: May 15, 2012.

OVC FY 12 American Indian/Alaska Native Training and Technical Assistance Program

OVC FY 12 American Indian/Alaska Native Training and Technical Assistance Program – One cooperative agreement of up to $750,000 will be awarded to provide resources and coordination to increase the ability of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribal communities to provide comprehensive and culturally appropriate services to crime victims, their families, and the community. Using a victim-centered approach, the award recipient will assist OVC in supporting the training and technical assistance needs of AI/AN communities that receive grant funds under Purpose Area 7 (Children’s Justice Act Partnerships for Indian Communities) and Purpose Area 8 (Comprehensive Tribal Victim Assistance Program) of the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation, as well as other AI/AN communities. Eligible applicants are limited to nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher learning, and consortiums with demonstrated experience working with AI/AN communities. Current Closing Date for Applications: May 08, 2012.

OVC FY 12 Wraparound Victim Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Project

OVC FY 12 Wraparound Victim Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Project – OVC will fund up to six sites to develop collaborative models for comprehensive, wraparound, pro bono, legal assistance networks to meet the range of legal needs of crime victims. This is a 4-year project, with sites receiving up to $400,000 for the first 15-month phase, with the potential of continuation funding for 3 additional years. Applicants are limited to private nonprofit organizations; faith-based and community-based organizations; colleges and universities; public agencies; and tribal governments and organizations that can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the range of legal assistance needs of crime victims, as well as the capacity to partner with other organizations and key stakeholders to deliver comprehensive, seamless legal services to victims. Those applying are urged to begin the application process well in advance of the April 19, 2012 deadline. Current Closing Date for Applications: April 19, 2012.

OVC FY 12 Action Partnerships for National Membership Professional Affiliation and Community Service Organizations Responding to Polyvictimization

OVC FY 12 Action Partnerships for National Membership Professional Affiliation and Community Service Organizations Responding to Polyvictimization -  OVC will award up to six cooperative agreements of up to $250,000 each to national organizations to identify and address gaps in services to or awareness of victims who suffer from polyvictimization, and to propose to remedy those gaps through training and/or technical assistance. Also known as multiple victimization or multi-victimization, polyvictimization occurs when an individual experiences multiple kinds of victimization and requires a holistic response. This solicitation will serve as a training and technical assistance companion to the FY 12 National Field-Generated Training, Technical Assistance, and Demonstration Projects competitive solicitation. Applicants are limited to national nonprofit membership, professional affiliation, and community service organizations, and must demonstrate the financial and organizational capacity to manage this cooperative agreement. Those applying are encouraged to begin the application process well in advance of the May 15, 2012 deadline. Current Closing Date for Applications: May 15, 2012.

FY 2012 Wraparound Victim Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Project

FY 2012 Wraparound Victim Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Project – OVC will fund up to six sites to develop collaborative models for comprehensive, wraparound, pro bono, legal assistance networks to meet the range of legal needs of crime victims. This is a 4-year project, with sites receiving up to $400,000 for the first 15-month phase, with the potential of continuation funding for 3 additional years. Applicants are limited to private nonprofit organizations; faith-based and community-based organizations; colleges and universities; public agencies; and tribal governments and organizations that can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the range of legal assistance needs of crime victims, as well as the capacity to partner with other organizations and key stakeholders to deliver comprehensive, seamless legal services to victims. Those applying are urged to begin the application process well in advance of the April 19, 2012 deadline. Current Closing Date for Applications: April 19, 2012.

The American Bar Association Endorses S. 1763, the Stand Against Violence and Empower (SAVE) Native Women Act

The American Bar Association has officially endorsed  S. 1763, the Stand Against Violence and Empower (SAVE) Native Women Act.

____________________________________

November 23, 2011

Re: November 10, 2011 Hearing
Dear Chairman Akaka and Ranking Member Barrasso:

On behalf of the American Bar Association, with nearly 400,000 members nationwide, I commend the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for holding a hearing on November 10, 2011, to address the need to improve public safety in Native communities and to improve the security of Native women and families. In particular, the ABA wishes to express strong support for S. 1763, the Stand Against Violence and Empower Native Women (SAVE) Act.

According to a study by the U.S. Department of Justice, two-fifths of Indian women will experience domestic violence, and one-third will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Four out of five perpetrators of these crimes are non-Indian. The SAVE Act works to ensure that victims have access to support services and provides tribes with adequate resources to prosecute those who are committing these violent crimes. The Act also provides Native communities with the resources necessary to develop policy that addresses the needs of victims, as well as to study and respond to the sex trafficking of Indian women.

The ABA strongly supports legislation and appropriate funding to strengthen protection and assistance for victims of gender-based violence, including American Indian and Alaska Native women. In August 2008, the ABA adopted policy urging Congress to enact and fund legislation that: (1) supports funding for legal assistance for victims of gender-based violence; (2) supports funding to provide training and education about gender-based violence and the needs of victims; (3) supports efforts to foster a multidisciplinary and community approach to serving victims and ending gender-based violence; and (4) supports efforts to ensure that perpetrators of gender-based violence are held accountable. And in February 2010, the ABA adopted a resolution urging reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (and similar legislation), specifically highlighting the need for legislation that “provides services, protection, and justice for underserved and vulnerable victims of violence, including children and youth who are victims or are witnesses to family violence, and victims who are disabled, elderly, immigrant, trafficked, LGBT and/or Indian.”

The ABA believes that passage of legislation that addresses these issues is an essential step in providing Indian tribes with the resources necessary to address domestic violence, sexual violence, and sex trafficking, and to keeping Native victims and their families safe.

We appreciate the Committee’s interest in and attention to this important subject and look forward to working with you on this issue.

Sincerely,
Thomas M. Susman
ABA Letter of November 10, 2011

Visit the Safe Women, Strong Nations project and learn how you can take action now to help end violence against Native women.

DOJ Official Urges More Protection for Native American Women from Non-American Indian Abusers

By the Associated Press

November 10, 2011 (Washington, DC) — A high-level Justice Department official pushed Thursday for tribal courts to have more power in prosecuting non-Indians in domestic violence cases, saying the lack of authority has meant many serious crimes have gone unprosecuted. Although tribal judges can now impose tougher sentences in such cases under a law passed last year, the courts still have no authority to prosecute domestic violence offenders who are not members of tribes, associate attorney general Tom Perrelli told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

The committee’s chairman, Sen. Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, has sponsored legislation that would increase tribes’ authority to deal with violence against Native American women. A 1978 Supreme Court ruling, known as Oliphant, stripped tribal courts’ of jurisdiction over non-Indians, which some blame for increased crime and violence on reservations.

“Tribal leaders, police officers and prosecutors tell us of an all-too-familiar pattern of escalating violence that goes unaddressed, with beating after beating, each more severe than the last, ultimately leading to death or severe physical injury,” Perrelli said. “Something must be done to stop the cycle of violence.”

The inability to prosecute non-Indians often leads to tribal law officers mistakenly believing they can’t make an arrest when responding to a domestic abuse case involving non-Indians, which “has left many serious acts of domestic violence and dating violence unprosecuted and unpunished,” Perrelli said.

Congress gave tribal courts the power to levy sentences of up to three years in prison against American Indians for each domestic violence offense in the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010. Before the law was passed, tribal courts could only sentence an abuser to a year in prison.

But the tribal courts still have little power when it comes to non-Indians, even when that abuser is married to a tribal member, Perrelli said.

According to a National Institute of Justice study, one third of Native American women will be raped during their lifetimes, Perrelli said. An analysis of death certificates by the institute also found that on some reservations Native American women are murdered at a rate of more than 10 times the national average, he said.

Among other things, Akaka’s legislation would make clear that Congress intended when it passed the Violence Against Women Act of 2000 to give tribal courts authority to issue and enforce protection orders for domestic violence victims, even if they involve non-Indians.

It also would allow courts to impose sentences that gradually increase the punishments for repeat offenders who assault and injure a spouse, partner or date.

The legislation also would provide grants for assisting Native American women who are victims of domestic violence and fund research to gather more data on domestic and sexual violence against women.

Suzanne Koepplinger, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, said the Justice Department estimates that 70 percent of sexual assaults against Native American women go unreported. None of the women and girls ages 11 to 20 who participated in a program run by her organization had reported their assaults to law enforcement, Koepplinger said.

• Watch the live webcast of the hearing, which may be accessed via the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs’ website.
• Visit the Center’s Safe Women, Strong Nations project and learn how you can take action now to help end violence against Native women.

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs’ to hold Hearing on the Stand Against Violence and Empower Native Women Act

On November 10, 2011, at 2:15 p.m. (EST), the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will hold a legislative hearing on S. 1763, the Stand Against Violence and Empower (SAVE) Native Women Act.

DO SOMETHING!

The Act, introduced by Sen. Daniel Akaka in October, would empower Tribes to prosecute violent crimes against Native women in Indian country committed by any person, to improve programs serving Native women under the Violence Against Women’s Act (VAWA), and to improve data gathering programs to better respond and understand sex trafficking of Native women.

The statistics are staggering. One in three Native women is raped in her lifetime, and six in ten experience physical abuse. Worse, four out of five perpetrators of these crimes are non-Indians who cannot be prosecuted by Tribes under current United States law.

• Make your voice be heard on Capitol Hill. Submit your written testimony to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs until November 24, 2011. Testimony should be emailed to: testimony@indian.senate.gov.
• Watch the live webcast of the hearing, which may be accessed via the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs’ website.
• Visit the Center’s Safe Women, Strong Nations project and learn how you can take action now to help end violence against Native women.

Now is the time to make a stand and seek legislation to end the epidemic of violence against Native women.

The American Bar Association Comes Out in Support of S. 1763, the Stand Against Violence and Empower (SAVE) Native Women Act

November 23, 2011

Re: November 10, 2011 Hearing
Dear Chairman Akaka and Ranking Member Barrasso:

On behalf of the American Bar Association, with nearly 400,000 members nationwide, I commend the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for holding a hearing on November 10, 2011, to address the need to improve public safety in Native communities and to improve the security of Native women and families. In particular, the ABA wishes to express strong support for S. 1763, the Stand Against Violence and Empower Native Women (SAVE) Act.

According to a study by the U.S. Department of Justice, two-fifths of Indian women will experience domestic violence, and one-third will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Four out of five perpetrators of these crimes are non-Indian. The SAVE Act works to ensure that victims have access to support services and provides tribes with adequate resources to prosecute those who are committing these violent crimes. The Act also provides Native communities with the resources necessary to develop policy that addresses the needs of victims, as well as to study and respond to the sex trafficking of Indian women.

The ABA strongly supports legislation and appropriate funding to strengthen protection and assistance for victims of gender-based violence, including American Indian and Alaska Native women. In August 2008, the ABA adopted policy urging Congress to enact and fund legislation that: (1) supports funding for legal assistance for victims of gender-based violence; (2) supports funding to provide training and education about gender-based violence and the needs of victims; (3) supports efforts to foster a multidisciplinary and community approach to serving victims and ending gender-based violence; and (4) supports efforts to ensure that perpetrators of gender-based violence are held accountable. And in February 2010, the ABA adopted a resolution urging reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (and similar legislation), specifically highlighting the need for legislation that “provides services, protection, and justice for underserved and vulnerable victims of violence, including children and youth who are victims or are witnesses to family violence, and victims who are disabled, elderly, immigrant, trafficked, LGBT and/or Indian.”

The ABA believes that passage of legislation that addresses these issues is an essential step in providing Indian tribes with the resources necessary to address domestic violence, sexual violence, and sex trafficking, and to keeping Native victims and their families safe.

We appreciate the Committee’s interest in and attention to this important subject and look forward to working with you on this issue.

Sincerely,
Thomas M. Susman
ABA Letter of November 10, 2011

Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota

Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota, the first-ever study of prostitution and trafficking of Native women in Minnesota was released by the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition and Prostitution Research & Education. The Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition is a statewide tribal coalition of individuals and organizations working to prevent and end sexual violence against Native women. The coalition was created in 2001 through funding from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women, and is one of 22 tribal coalitions addressing gender violence in Native communities.

The Garden of Truth is the first study detailing the personal experiences of Native women who have been prostituted and trafficked in Minnesota. The 105 women interviewed for the report describe extreme and frequent violence including child sexual abuse, rape, beatings, and traumatic brain injuries, with a majority experiencing symptoms of PTSD.

Summary of Report

Since Native women are at exceptionally high risk for poverty, homelessness, and sexual violence which are elements in the trafficking of women, and because the needs of Native women are generally not being met, and because prostituted women are at extremely high risk for violence and emotional trauma, our goal was to assess the life circumstances of Native women in prostitution in Minnesota, a group of women not previously studied in research such as this. We assessed their needs and the extent to which those needs are or are not being met.

We interviewed 105 Native women in prostitution for approximately 1.5 hours each, administering 4 questionnaires that asked about family history, sexual and physical violence throughout their lifetimes, homelessness, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and dissociation, use of available services such as domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, rape crisis centers, and substance abuse treatment. We asked the women about the extent to which they connected with their cultures, and if that helped them or not. We asked about racism and colonialism. The questionnaires were both quantitative and qualitative.

About half of the women met a conservative legal definition of sex trafficking which involves third-party control over the prostituting person by pimps or traffickers. Yet most (86%) interviewees felt that no women really know what they’re getting into when they begin prostituting, and that there is deception and trickery involved.

• 79% of the women we interviewed had been sexually abused as children by an average of 4perpetrators.
• More than two-thirds of the 105 women had family members who had attended boarding schools.
• 92% had been raped.
• 84% had been physically assaulted in prostitution.
• 72% suffered traumatic brain injuries in prostitution.
• 98% were currently or previously homeless.
• Racism was an emotionally damaging element in these women’s lives and a source of ongoing stress.
• 62% saw a connection between prostitution and colonization, and explained that the devaluation of women in prostitution was identical to the colonizing devaluation of Native people.
• 33% spoke of Native cultural or spiritual practices as an important part of who they were.
• 52% had PTSD at the time of the interview, a rate that is in the range of PTSD among combat veterans. 71% had symptoms of dissociation.
• 80% had used outpatient substance abuse services. Many felt that they would have been helped even more by inpatient treatment. 77% had used homeless shelters. 65% had used domestic violence services. 33% had used sexual assault services.
• 92% wanted to escape prostitution.
• Their most frequently stated needs were for individual counseling (75%) and peer support (73%),reflecting a need for their unique experiences as Native women in prostitution to be heard and seen by people who care about them. Two thirds needed housing and vocational counseling.
• Many of the women felt they owed their survival to Native cultural practices. Most wanted access to Native healing approaches integrated with a range of mainstream services.

Prostitution is a sexually exploitive, often violent economic option most often entered into by those with a lengthy history of sexual, racial and economic victimization. Prostitution is only now beginning to be understood as violence against women and children. It has rarely been included in discussions of sexual violence against Native women. It is crucial to understand the sexual exploitation of Native women in prostitution today in its historical context of colonial violence against nations.

In order for a woman to have the real choice to exit prostitution, a range of services must be offered yet there are currently few or no available services especially designed for Native women in prostitution.

We recommend increased state and federal funding for transitional and long term housing for Native women and others seeking to escape prostitution. We recommend increased funding for Native women’s programs, including advocacy, physical and mental health care, job training and placement, legal services, and research on these topics.

We urge state, local, and tribal officials to review and reconsider their policies toward victims of prostitution and trafficking, including this new research about Native women. The arrest and prosecution of victims is counter-productive and exacerbates their problems. As a Native woman interviewed for this research study said, “We need people with hearts.” Arresting sex buyers, not their victims, is a more appropriate policy.

GAO Issues Indian Health Service Sexual Assault Readiness Report

INDIAN HEALTH  SERVICE  Continued Efforts  Needed to Help  Strengthen Response  to Sexual Assaults and  Domestic Violence

In response to a Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 mandate, GAO examined (1) the ability of Indian Health Service (IHS) and tribally operated hospitals to collect and preserve medical forensic evidence involving cases of sexual assault and domestic violence, as needed for criminal prosecution; (2) what challenges, if any, these hospitals face in collecting and preserving such evidence; and (3) what factors besides medical forensic evidence contribute to a decision to prosecute such cases. GAO surveyed all 45 IHS and tribally operated hospitals and interviewed IHS and law enforcement officials and prosecutors.

What GAO Recommends
GAO is making five recommendations aimed at improving IHS’s response to sexual assault and domestic violence, including to develop an implementation and monitoring plan for its new sexual assault policy and to modify sections of
the policy regarding required training and subpoenas or requests to testify. The Department of Health and Human Services and the state of Alaska generally agreed with GAO’s findings and recommendations.  For more information, contact Carolyn L. Yocom at (202) 512-7114 or yocomc@gao.gov.

To improve or expand medical forensic exams and related activities for the 28 IHS operated hospitals, we recommend that the Secretary of Health and Human Services direct the Director of the Indian Health Service to take the following five actions:

Recommendations for Executive Action

• Develop an implementation plan for the March 2011 IHS sexual assault policy (Indian Health Manual, chapter 3.29)—and monitor its progress—to clarify how the agency will support its hospitals and staff in fulfilling the policy, in particular, that the hospitals or staff:

• obtain training and certification in providing forensic medical exams;
• obtain equipment like cameras needed to collect evidence;
• provide medical forensic exams on site or at a referral facility within 2 hours of a patient’s arrival; and
• collaborate with law enforcement agencies, prosecution, and other stakeholders identified in the policy with the objective of creating sexual assault response teams and obtaining regular feedback from such stakeholders on evidence collection and preservation.
• Develop a policy that details how IHS should respond to discrete incidents of domestic violence without a sexual component and, working with Justice, develop a policy for responding to incidents of child sexual abuse consistent with protocols Justice develops for these incidents; such policies should be similar in scope and specificity to the March 2011 IHS policy on responding to adult and adolescent sexual assaults.
• Clarify whether sections 3.29.1 and 3.29.5 of the March 2011 IHS sexual assault policy call for training and certification, or only training, of IHS physicians and physician assistants performing sexual assault medical forensic exams.
• Modify the March 2011 IHS sexual assault policy so that it comprehensively and clearly outlines (1) the process for approving subpoenas and requests for IHS employees to provide testimony in federal, state, and tribal courts and (2) reflects the provisions in section 263 of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, including that subpoenas and requests not approved or disapproved within 30 days are considered approved.
• Explore ways to structure medical forensic activities within IHS facilities so that these activities come under an individual’s normal duties or unit’s official area of responsibility, in part to ensure that providers are compensated for performing medical forensic services.