The needs of american indian and alaska natives crime victims are pressing and disapropriately represented in assistance requests received by the state of california's victim compensation program

The Hoopa Valley Tribe was awarded $799,268 under the Justice System Infrastructure Program for Indian Tribes (CFDA 16.596) by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance on October 1, 2022. The funding will support construction of a 1,600 square foot annex building adjacent to the Hoopa Valley Tribal Courthouse to expand crime victim services for the Tribe's service area in Humboldt County, California. Currently operating in just 400 square feet, the new facility will provide safe, secure spaces for crime victim advocacy services including for children, tribal elders and those dealing with sensitive issues such as elder financial exploitation. The annex is expected to be completed by September 30, 2027 and will allow the Tribal Court to continue delivering trauma-informed services to the community while meeting program standards for excellence.

To meet the need of those within the hoopa valley tribe's service area of humboldt county, the tribal court initiated a comprehensive crime victime services support in 2021. An unexpected and unintended consequence of meeting this community need was the lack of designted space for the program to operate and also uphold best practices. This request aims to cure the need for space by requesting the construction funding for a new permanent , premanufactured facility. This project will transform the hoopa tribal justice campus by construcdting a 1,600 SQ, foot annex building adjacent to the tribal courthouse. With one of every five crime victims being tribal elders, this will help assure citizens are met with safe, secure, and private spaces away from harm and intimidation. Advocates will move from their current 400 square feet of space to a building that provides for free civil legal audm crune vuctun advocate volunteers, safe spaces for children and tribal elders to gain services. This project includes trauma informed approaches that avoid RE-traumatizing survivors and allow for the program to continue services for delicate family and intergenerational issues some find very difficult to talk about, such as financial explotation of tribal elders, burglary committed by a family member of adult neglect. The hoopa valley tribal court humbly request assistance to expand its judicial campus so the needs of crime victims can be met using OVC program standards of excellence. Meeting this need will allow tribal courthouse spaces to open tenancy so other, equally pressing jurisdiction matters can be assumed, such as ICW, title IV-E and broader criminal jurisdition in a PL-280 state.