National American Indian Court Judges Association
*NOTICE TO OJP AWARD RECIPIENTS*
OJP GUIDANCE ON SHORT TERM ADMINISTRATION RELIEF MARCH 2020
Dear OJP Award Recipient –
Effective Monday, March 16, and until further notice, pursuant to OMB Memorandum M-20-15, dated March 15, 2020, the Department of Justice is moving to a posture of maximum telework in the National Capital Region. Office of Justice Programs (OJP) staff will work remotely and will be available to assist grantees, stakeholders, and the public during this period. Likewise, all OJP systems and services will be available.
Grant Payments: The Grants Payment Request System (GPRS) will remain in service to accept and process grant payment requests.
Programmatic and financial monitoring: Until otherwise notified, all planned on-site monitoring will be conducted as remote monitoring or postponed for a later date. You will be contacted by your OJP grant manager and/or financial staff of OJP’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer to make alternative arrangements. If your organization is unable to participate in remote monitoring due to operational limitations, you may request postponement until a later date.
Conferences, events, and other gatherings: For OJP-sponsored conferences, meetings, trainings, and other gatherings that are scheduled in the near term, cooperative agreement recipients should work with their OJP program or grant managers to set up meetings as virtual events or postpone or cancel meetings. For events planned farther out, please work on a case-by-case basis with your grant manager.
Grantees should contact their OJP grant managers to address issues resulting from postponed or canceled meetings, such as using grant funds to cover hotel or travel related cancellation fees and penalties.
Grantees should try to have the airline reimburse the canceled ticket(s) in cash. However, if the airline will only refund the cancellation as a credit:
Grantees should provide similar guidance to subrecipients (that is, subgrantees). Please document these such changes via a Program Office Approval Grant Adjustment Notice (GAN) in OJP’s Grant Management System (GMS) for record keeping purposes.
Interruptions in performance of work under the grant: Grantees (and subrecipients/subgrantees) should review the DOJ Grants Financial Guide and the Part 200 Uniform Requirements (2 C.F.R. Part 200, as adopted by DOJ) (see, for example, 2 CFR 200.430 and 2 C.F.R. 200.431, under Subpart E – Cost Principles), and the grantee’s (or subrecipient’s/subgrantee’s) established policies, to help in determining how the grantee’s personnel costs may be treated during any period(s) of interruption to the performance of work under the award. You should direct any questions about allowability of costs to your OJP grant manager, or to OJP’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer by calling the Customer Service Center at 1-800-458-0786 (TTY: 202-616-3867), or via email at ask.ocfo@usdoj.gov.
Award extensions: In accordance with Part 200 Uniform Requirements (2 C.F.R. Part 200, as adopted by DOJ) and consistent with the DOJ Grants Financial Guide, most OJP awards may be eligible for one no-cost extension of up to 12 months. If the grant has previously received a no-cost extension and an additional extension will be requested due to the extenuating circumstances, refer to the DOJ Grants Financial Guide for additional information and consult with your grant manager as needed.
Please note that awards funded by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) (or any other OJP bureau/program office) under the provisions of the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) of 1984, are available during the federal fiscal year of the award, plus the following three fiscal years. OVC and other OJP bureaus/program offices have no discretion to permit extensions of any award’s period of performance beyond the statutory period.
Solicitations: Solicitations with application due dates between March 16th and March 31st will have a 2-week extension for submission. OJP program offices are in the process of updating those due dates now. OJP will continue to monitor the situation and determine if additional adjustments to closing dates will be needed. Grants.gov and OJP’s Grants Management System remain open to continue to accept applications.
We will continue to provide updated information on potentially impacted grants activities, including financial and other required reporting. Thank you for your patience during this time. OJP and the Department of Justice appreciate your ongoing commitment to your missions and the safety of all Americans.
Office of Justice Programs
Tribal court judges, often unknowingly, fill multiple needs within tribal systems. First, they adjudicate disputes. Second, they are the focal point of attacks, or preservation of, sovereignty of tribes. The federal system often in an off-hand manner assaults our tribal adjudicatory processes as illustrated in U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments and decisions. Third, we can function as a tribal mechanism for institutionalizing our culture, social structures and traditional processes, carrying our tribal systems into the future. We will give examples of each of these threads through stories, documents, laws and history.
HON. Gregory Bigler, Muscogee (Creek) Nation District court; Appellate Judge Mashantucket pequot nation; Supreme Court judge of iowa tribe of oklahoma; Chief Justice Supreme Court kickapoo tribe in kansas; Supreme Court justice quapaw tribe of oklahoma.
Professor Kristen Carpenter, council tree professor of law and director of the American Indian law program at the university of colorado law school. professor carpenter also serves on the United Nations expert mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples as its member from North America.
REBEKAH HORSECHIEF (OSAGE), PROGRAM COORDINATOR, NATIONAL AMERICAN INDIAN COURT JUDGES ASSOCIATION
Ansley Sherman Muscogee (creek), Program Attorney, National American Indian court judges association.
Secondary Trauma results in professionals who work with those who have experienced trauma. Tribal court and tribal social service professionals spend their days working with and providing support to clients who have experienced trauma. This secondary trauma can result in burnout among staff. It is important for Tribal Court staff to engage in practices to address their secondary trauma in order to effectively serve the children and families in their courts. This session will explore secondary trauma and provide participants with practical culturally specific tools to help them deal with the secondary trauma.
Hon. Cheryl Demmert Fairbanks (Tlingit/Tsimshian), Justice, Inter-Tribal Court of Appeals of Nevada
Rebekah HorseChief (Osage), Program Coordinator, National American Indian Court Judges Association
The role of the Tribal court judge can vary from tribe to tribe and state to state. The judge must navigate intersections and gaps in state, federal and tribal authority in Indian Country The faculty for this session will be several tribal court judges who will talk about the challenges and opportunities this unique bench provides.
Hon. John Traylor, Presiding Judge for Gila River Indian Community Court of Appeals
Rebekah HorseChief (Osage), Program Coordinator, National American Indian Court Judges Association
Tribal courts are often called upon to navigate a relationship with state courts, state welfare agencies and law enforcement. This can be challenging as many state court and agency professionals do not understand tribal law or sovereignty. This webinar will explore how Tribal courts can develop working relationships with state courts, agencies, and law enforcement to ensure better outcomes for tribal members.
Melissa Sickmund, Director, The National Center for Juvenile Justice
Kate Trujillo (Laguna), Program Coordinator, National American Indian Court Judges Association
Rebekah HorseChief (Osage), Program Coordinator, National American Indian Court Judges Association
FACULTY:
Kurt Begaye (Dine), Director of Training and Technical Assistance, Southwest Indigenous Women's Coalition, Begaye Consulting
MODERATOR:
Rebekah HorseChief (Osage), Program Coordinator, National American Indian Court Judges Association
Peacemaking is not alternative dispute resolution to Native communities – it is the original, traditional way our communities managed to work through disputes for centuries before tribal courts were created. Because of natural limitations inherent in tribal courts, there is increasing interest in the continuation and revitalization of those traditional ways.
This webinar explains how tribal traditions may hold a solution to some problems that have proven especially difficult in tribal court, provide some examples of how other tribes have had success, and explain how this movement is part of a bigger picture, even internationally, of how indigenous communities are using their own wisdom to solve their problems. Speakers include well known and seasoned Peacemakers including NARF Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative staff and advisory committee members.
2016 Webinars
2. Successfully Developing Tribal Justice Systems in a Public Law 280 State
3. EXPUNGEMENT AND INDIAN COUNTRY: The Need to Address Past Criminal Histories for a Better Future
4. Building a Collaborative Court with Other Jurisdictions to Treat Nonviolent Tribal Adult Offender
CTAS Purpose Area 3 Training and Technical Assistance
Indian Country has longstanding criminal justice issues associated with substance abuse, and most recently, tribal communities have been forced to confront a rapid and unprecedented rise in methamphetamine, heroin, and opiate trafficking and abuse that has led to a dramatic increase in reservation crime. The National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA) is committed to customizing innovative, grassroots solutions by providing true peer-to-peer TTA that will address the unique interests of tribal sovereigns as defined by the community the justice system serves. The benefit of this approach is bringing together TTA providers who understand the insular nature of reservations and who are invested in the growth and wellbeing of tribal communities with current best practices and cultural competency.
NAICJA will provide TTA to Program Area 3 grantees in partnership with Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the Indigenous Peacemaking Initiative of the Native American Rights Fund, the Tribal Law and Policy Institute, Cheryl Fairbanks, LLC, the Hon. Lawrence Lujan, Columbia Law School, the National Center for State Courts, and the Tribal Judicial Institute. NAICJA’s goal is to provide Training and Technical Assistance that preserves each tribe’s own individual concepts of native law and support tribal self-determination by strengthening the justice system and the intervention programs designed to address alcohol and substance abuse.
Training objectives include:
1) Increasing the knowledge of criminal and tribal justice practitioners through in-person training, web based learning, distance learning including webinars and podcasts, and developing or revising training curricula;
2) Increasing all serviced tribal justice agency’s ability to solve problems and/or modify policies and practices; and,
3) Increase information provided to BJA and the criminal and tribal justice communities.
Services and Training and Technical Assistance will include:
- Publications, fact-sheets, and model codes,
- Code drafting assistance,
- Peer-to-peer consultations,
- Listserv communications,
- Onsite TTA,
- Distance Learning TTA via teleconference, videoconference, and email,
- Interactive online training modules,
- Webinars,
- In-person training and needs assessments via a National Training Conference. Training and pre-conference topics will be related to tribal justice systems, including traditional justice, alcohol and substance abuse as it relates to public safety and victims’ services, law enforcement, prosecution, defense services/legal aid, offender reentry, tribal-federal-state intergovernmental collaboration, and justice information sharing.
Tribal Civil and Criminal Legal Assistance Program
NAICJA is the Tribal Justice Training and Technical Assistance provider under the Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) Tribal Civil and Criminal Legal Assistance (TCCLA) Program, offering training and technical assistance to TCCLA Grantees and Sub-grantee Legal Aid organizations. TTA Resources are available to 1) enhance the operations of tribal justice systems and improve access to those systems, and 2) provide training and technical assistance for development and enhancement of tribal justice systems. Through a training and technical assistance request form NAICJA took requests for training from TCCLA grantees and Sub-grantee Leal Aid organizations.
Under this grant NAICJA developed the following deliverables:
Publications:
An Overview of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Tribal Civil and Criminal Legal Assistance Program and Resources (download)
This publication provides an overview of the Tribal Civil and Criminal Legal Assistance Program (TCCLA). It identifies resources and eligibility guidelines for tribes seeking to obtain or provide civil and criminal legal assistance for their communities, explores program sustainment strategies, and outlines several promising practices for the provision of indigent legal assistance in tribal communities.
Report on the Traditional and Holistic Justice Roundtable (download)
Emerging Practices in Tribal Civil and Criminal Legal Assistance (download)
Collateral Consequences Infographic (download)
Seeking Assistance for Collateral Consequences (download)
Holistic Approach to Civil and Criminal Legal Assistance in Tribal Justice Systems Presentation (download)
Traditional Peacemaking: Exploring the Intersections between Tribal Courts and Peacemaking, including Alternatives to Detention Presentation (download)
REQUEST TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE