Rocky Boy up to $1.6 million in DOJ grants

A grant-writing firm announced this week that the federal government has awarded Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation more cash to help with law enforcement, courts and services for victims

Jim Swan, CEO of RJS and Associates, said grants announced Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation are in addition to a $480,233 grant announced earlier, bringing the total to more than $1.5 million.

Ken St. Marks, chair of the Chippewa Cree Business Committee, the top governing body at Rocky Boy, said Wednesday the grants will help provide needed services.

“Our court system needs a lot of money; our law enforcement needs money to operate,” St. Marks said, adding, “It’s needed really bad.”

He said, for example, the $480,233 grant announced earlier from DOJ’s Community Oriented Policing Services program will allow the Rocky Boy police department to hire, train and outfit two new officers.

Swan, whose company wrote the grant applications, also said the funds will benefit Rocky Boy.

“These grants will have significant impact on Rocky Boy and on the surrounding area,” he said, adding that the Chippewa Cree are one of the few tribes in the nation that have garnered funding from the CTAS program since it started in 2010.

Swan said the grants are broken up into three areas.

The first grant awarded is to add two additional sworn officers to its patrol force, purchase necessary supplies and equipment, and receive training, in order to increase the capacity of the Tribe’s law enforcement services; create a safer community; and enhance the law enforcement agency’s capacity to prevent, solve, and control crime, RJS said in a press release. The grants total $1,639,674.

The second, $839,451 for the Violence Against Women Tribal Governments Program from the Office of Violence Against Women, will create two jobs, a project director and an advocate for three years, Swan said.

That will support the health and safety of women and adolescent girls through the use of culturally appropriate, community-relevant techniques to improve the tribe’s response to and prevention of domestic violence and sexual abuse on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, the release said. This project approach is specifically designed to address the rising violence against women on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation by overcoming service provision barriers historically faced by the tribe.

The third area is a $320,000 grant for Juvenile Healing to Wellness Courts from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention that will create one job for a project coordinator for four years, Swan said.

That grant will address gaps in services in the lack of adequate substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation options for juveniles; the lack of coordinated services, and the lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities for Healing to Wellness Team members, the release said.

The grant will engage stakeholders within the community to provide services to juveniles in accordance with the Ten Key Components of Healing to Wellness Courts, reduce recidivism, and develop a strategic plan and policies and procedures for the Juvenile Healing to Wellness Court, it said.

“This equates to 10 person-year jobs, which is significant in the community,” Swan said. “In addition, the grants will assist in enforcement, adjudication, advocacy and intervention within the justice system at Rocky Boy.”

“The overall effect on the safety and well-being of the community has the potential to be phenomenal,” Swan added. “We are happy for the Tribe and wish the Tribe great success in the management and implementation of these projects.”