The confederated tribes and bands of the yakama nation will use funding to enhance their existing tribal court system by improving their services and the outcomes for their criminal defendants who are…

The Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation $900,000 under the Tribal Justice Assistance program (CFDA 16.596) on October 1, 2025, for a period of performance through September 30, 2029.

The award funds three complementary enhancements to the Yakama Nation's tribal court system. First, the recipient will enhance probation services and criminal defendant outcomes by hiring a probation project specialist to research, develop, and implement a culturally sensitive, evidence-based probation model. Second, the tribe will transition to a new electronic case management system with a five-year vendor contract providing licensing and ongoing technical support, designed to organize court cases, improve accessibility and automation, enable collaboration, and scale to meet future demand. Third, the award addresses communication and technical barriers in courtrooms by upgrading the video conference system and adding microphones.

The Tribal Justice Assistance program supports tribal communities' efforts to prevent crime and strengthen justice system capacity. Performance location is Toppenish, Washington 98948.

The confederated tribes and bands of the yakama nation will use funding to enhance their existing tribal court system by improving their services and the outcomes for their criminal defendants who are assigned to their probation services program for supervision.secondly, the tribal courts system will be enhanced with a transition to a new electronic case management system (CMS) that is robust and user-friendly and that ensures their courts cases are organized, accessible, automated, collaborative, efficient, and scalable, meeting the needs of their courts and the people they serve. Finally, this project enhances the tribes courts by addressing the communication, technical/hardware barriers inside their courtrooms by upgrading the video conference system and by adding microphones. Key activities for the probation services enhancement project include hiring a probation project specialist whose goal is to research, develop, and implement a culturally sensitive, evidence-based probation model. Key activities for the CMS and court equipment updates will include transitioning to a new CMS software vendor and entering a five-year contract that will provide ongoing licensing and technical support.no conference activities are planned for this award.