Local tribes receive drug, alcohol grants

ODANAH, Wis. — The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians will receive a $710,599 Justice Systems and Alcohol and Substance Abuse grant.

Scott C. Blader, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, joined the U.S. Department of Justice Thursday in announcing more than $113 million in grants to improve public safety, serve victims of crime, combat violence against women, and support youth programs in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. 

The Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians will receive a $286,900 Public Safety and Community Policing grant and a $750,000 Justice Systems and Alcohol and Substance Abuse grant. 

The Ho-Chunk Nation will receive a $203,460 Public Safety and Community Policing grant. 

The Lac Courte Oreilles (Hayward) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will receive a $724,585 Justice Systems and Alcohol and Substance Abuse grant, a $412,231 Violence Against Women Tribal Governments Program grant, and a $449,973 Comprehensive Tribal Victim Assistance Program grant.

“These grants will give Wisconsin tribes the resources they need to meet the public safety challenges facing their communities and provide services to victims of crime,” Blader said.

Two Wisconsin tribes located in the Eastern District of Wisconsin also will receive grants. The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin will receive four grants totaling more than $2.9 million and the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin will receive two grants totaling almost $508,000. 

Nationwide, 133 grants were awarded.

In addition, the Department of Justice is in the process of allocating up to $133 million in a first set aside program to serve victims of crime in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. The awards are intended to help tribes develop, expand and improve services to victims of crime by providing funding, programming and technical assistance. Recipients will be announced in the near future. 

“With these awards, we are doubling the amount of grant funding devoted to public safety programs and serving victims of crime in Native American communities,” said Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio.  “There is an unacceptable level of violent crime and domestic abuse in American Indian and Alaska Native communities,” he said.

—Ralph Ansami