The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation have been awarded $650,000 in federal funds to provide additional support to victims of domestic violence, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women.
The office awarded a total of $5.6 million to six Western Washington tribes and a nonprofit working to combat domestic and sexual violence in tribal communities, Acting U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman announced in the release.
The funding will be used for a range of services, including emergency shelter, legal assistance and counseling for victims of domestic violence.
“We know that rates of domestic and sexual violence are disproportionately higher for Alaska Native and American Indian women. These grant funds are critical to providing safety in our tribal communities,” Gorman stated in the release. “We welcome the coordinated effort by the Women Spirit Coalition to bring this grant funding to Western Washington.”
Along with the money awarded to the Chehalis Tribe, the grants include:
• Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe: $1 million for transitional housing and to strengthen tribal court system interventions.
• Makah Tribe: $425,000 for education and intervention strategies on domestic violence, sexual assault and sex trafficking.
• Snoqualmie Indian Tribe: $998,595 for planning and implementing a supervised visitation program; providing no-cost civil legal services for survivors; and continuing advocacy and support efforts.
• Quileute Tribe: $650,000 for the New Beginnings Program will help continue effective advocacy responses for victims of domestic violence, including emergency transportation, housing assistance and transitional housing assistance.
• Tulalip Tribes: $1.5 million as part of the Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction Program to enhance programs through the tribal prosecutor’s office that hold non-natives responsible for their crimes and provide support and safety for tribal victims.
• Washington State Native American Coalition against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault: $382,188 for the Women Spirit Coalition that works with 22 tribes on anti-violence work and community awareness.
Additionally, the Department of Justice announced $1.5 million in funding to the Washington state Attorney General’s Office to investigate missing and murdered Indigenous people in cold cases.
“These are cases that occurred before 1980,” the department stated in the release. “ The Attorney General’s Office will work with the tribes and their tribal archives to research and identify pre-1980 cold cases with civil rights violations involving Indigenous victims and create an inventory of these cases. The grant will produce a public report documenting what was found over the course of research.”
