Frequently Asked Questions

Will DOJ offer travel assistance to tribal leaders who would like to attend the consultation?
It is our goal to accommodate as many tribal leaders and representatives as we possibly can at this year’s consultation. If your tribe currently receives grant funding from OVW, you may use your travel funding to pay for the cost of your travel to the consultation. You may also use the funding to pay for the travel costs of up to two additional representatives from your tribe to attend as well. If your tribe receives funding from other DOJ grant programs, contact your grant manager to inquire about using your grant funds to travel to the consultation.

Regrettably, DOJ does not have funding to help defray the cost of attending the consultation for tribal governments who do not currently receive grant funding. Non-grantees are welcome to attend the consultation at their own expense.

How can tribes share their recommendations with DOJ if they are unable to attend the consultation?
DOJ will accept written recommendations from tribal governments who are unable to attend the consultation. Written comments may be submitted using first-class mail, email, or fax.

Office on Violence Against Women
United States Department of Justice
ATTN: Tribal Unit
800 K Street, NW, Ste. 920
Washington, DC 20530
Fax: (202) 305-2589
E-mail: [email protected]

What do tribes need to do if they want to designate someone other than a tribal leader to represent the tribe at the consultation?
DOJ recognizes that your tribe may decide to authorize an individual who is not a tribal leader to offer testimony on its behalf at the consultation. If your tribe elects to designate someone as its official representative, DOJ is requesting that the individual who will be presenting testimony on behalf of your tribe be prepared to submit either a resolution from your tribal council or a letter from you on official letterhead which confirms their status as the official representative of your tribe.

Is this event open to members of the general public?
Participation in the consultation is by invitation only. The leaders of each of the nation's 563 federally recognized tribes have been invited to attend the consultation. Registrations from non-tribal leaders will not be accepted unless the individual who is attempting to register has been authorized to attend the consultation by a federally-recognized tribe as evidenced by a letter on official tribal government letterhead signed by a tribal leader, or by a tribal council resolution.

What does the Office on Violence Against Women do?
The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, provides national leadership in developing the nation's capacity to reduce violence against women through the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Created in 1995, OVW administers financial and technical assistance to communities across the country that are developing programs, policies, and practices aimed at ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Currently, OVW administers two formula grant programs and 17 discretionary grant programs, all of which were established under VAWA and subsequent legislation. Since its inception, OVW has awarded nearly $3 billion in grants and cooperative agreements and has launched a multifaceted approach to implementing VAWA. By forging state, local, and tribal partnerships among police, prosecutors, victim advocates, health care providers, faith leaders, and others, OVW grant programs help provide victims with the protection and services they need to pursue safe and healthy lives, while simultaneously enabling communities to hold offenders accountable for their violence.

What does the Office of Justice Programs do?
The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) provides innovative leadership to federal, state, local, and tribal justice systems, by disseminating state-of-the art knowledge and practices across America, and providing grants for the implementation of these crime fighting strategies. The grant-making offices housed within OJP include, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the National Institute for Justice (NIJ), and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). 

What does the COPS Office do?
The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services advances public safety through community policing. The COPS Office does its work principally by sharing information on developing community partnerships, organizational transformation and problem solving by providing grants, publications, training and technical assistance directly to state, local and tribal law enforcement.

What is the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation?
The Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) responds to Tribal leaders’ requests to improve and simplify the Department of Justice (DOJ) grant-making process. CTAS is the first phase of this approach, whereby DOJ is combining existing Tribal government-specific competitive solicitations into one solicitation, and thus requiring only one application from each Tribe or Tribal Consortium.

How did the CTAS this process differ from the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 grant-solicitation process?
Only one application was required to submit a request for funding under ten different programs, referred to as “Purpose Areas” in CTAS. This new coordinated approach provides federally-recognized Tribes and Tribal consortia the opportunity to develop a comprehensive approach to public safety and victimization issues.

How was the CTAS process the same as the FY 2009 grant-making process?
The federal resources appropriated in FY 2010 will remain with the DOJ components to which they were originally appropriated. In response to a single Tribal or Tribal consortium application requesting funds from multiple Purpose Areas, multiple awards may be made. Grant awards may be funded and administered by different DOJ components. The grants will be managed by the awarding DOJ component in the same manner grants are currently managed.

What are the “Purpose Areas” included in the CTAS?
There are ten Purpose Areas for CTAS. Tribes and tribal consortia were permitted to apply for one or up to all ten Purpose Areas through one application:

  1. Improve public safety and enhance community policy capacity
  2. Prevent and reduce alcohol and substance abuse-related crimes
  3. Develop and enhance the operation of tribal justice systems
  4. Plan, renovate, or construct correctional and/or correctional alternatives facilities
  5. Provide direct intervention and assistance to victims of sexual assault
  6. Enhance responses to violence committed against Indian women and girls
  7. Provide community outreach and victim assistance services to address elder abuse
  8. Prevent and control delinquency and improve the juvenile justice system
  9. Enhance accountability for delinquent behavior
  10. Develop new demonstration projects on violence prevention and rehabilitation

What DOJ grant programs are not included in the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation?

  • Office on Violence Against Women Tribal Coalitions Program
  • Training & Technical Assistance Programs
  • New COPS Tribal Methamphetamine Program
  • New BJA Tribal Civil and Criminal Legal Assistance Grants, Training, and Technical Assistance
  • Non-Tribal Government-Specific Competitive Grants (Tribes may compete for non-tribal government-specific grants separately.)