The aleut community of ST. Paul island tribal government (ACSPI) seeks to address a significant rise in youth delinquency and truancy within their community

The Aleut Community of Saint Paul Island Tribal Government (ACSPI) received a $500,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance under the Tribal Youth Program (CFDA 16.731). The grant aims to address a significant rise in youth delinquency and truancy within the ACSPI community. Key activities include: 1) Implementing methods, policies, procedures, and supports to empower families and individual youth, providing comprehensive services with the goal of impacting the rate of delinquency, demonstrating a direct impact on truancy, and demonstrating a documented impact on youth educational reentry; 2) Assigning individual court navigators and case managers to coordinate comprehensive case plans addressing education, socioeconomic, and other identified goals and needs for individuals and families; 3) Developing policies and procedures to strengthen the link between the Pribilof School District and the tribal court system, providing a formal referral pathway for youth starting at the point of truancy; and 4) Providing a formal training curriculum to ensure project staff interactions are consistent with tribal values and culturally relevant. The grant period of performance is from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2028.

Noting this trend and identifying a possible root cause of the significant rise of delinquency, the tribal court plans to put in place methods, policies, procedures, and supports to address the issue while at the same time empowering families and individual youth, providing comprehensive services with the goal of impacting the rate of delinquency, demonstrating a direct impact on truancy, and demonstrating a documented impact on youth educational reentry. Individual court navigators will be assigned to youth within the court system and be paired with case managers from the bering sea campus who will coordinate efforts to develop comprehensive case plans to address education, socioeconomic, and other identified goals and needs for individuals and families. The bering sea campus academic curriculum team will develop policies and procedures that will be implemented into the pribilof school district, strengthening their link into tribal court systems, and provide a formal referral pathway for youth that starts at the point truancy initially occurs, allowing intersection prior to manifestation of greater issues. This will impact both educational outcomes and rates of youth delinquency. As current individuals within the court system are provided comprehensive services, the community seeks to demonstrate an impact in the reoccurrence of offenses and show reentry into education and secondary programs (such as GED and other programs). The program will provide funding for a formal training curriculum that will be utilized by project staff to ensure interactions are consistent with tribal values; include a site-specific, culturally relevant perspective; and allow ACSPI to provide a resource that sustains the program capacity and staffing beyond the initial period of performance of this project.