Fifteen Alaska tribal recipients get about $4.4 million for crime victim services

The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs obligated about $4.4 million in crime victim services grants Oct. 29 to 15 Alaska tribal governments and Native-serving organizations.

The grants cover Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2031. The program is not competitive: under the federal program's rules, every federally recognized tribe that applies receives an award.

The largest award, $704,957, went to Fairbanks-based Dena Nena Henash, which a federal allocation table lists as doing business as Tanana Chiefs Conference. Sitka Tribe of Alaska and the Native Village of Barrow Inupiat Traditional Government each received $284,130. Northway Village, the Native Village of Point Lay and the Native Village of Buckland each received $256,624.

Nine recipients received $264,918 each: the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe, Petersburg Indian Association, Hoonah Indian Association, Nenana Native Association, Native Village of Tanana, Native Village of Point Hope, City of Togiak, Aleut Community of St. Paul Island and the Anchorage-based Rural Alaska Community Action Program.

The grants come from the Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside, money Congress sets aside each year from the federal Crime Victims Fund for tribal communities' services to crime victims. The allocation table puts the fiscal 2026 nationwide total at about $90.1 million, including about $29.2 million for 123 Alaska applicants.

Rick Haskins-Garcia, director of law and policy for the Alaska Native Women's Resource Center, testified April 23 before the Alaska House Tribal Affairs Committee on a bill that would extend the state's confidentiality protections for communications with victim counselors to tribal governments' victim services. He said federal support for Alaska tribal justice systems had grown a little since 2016. "It's very few dollars and it's very, very limited. And so oftentimes leaves our tribes to compete for funding, pinning one tribe against the next," Haskins-Garcia said.

Testimony at that hearing said more than half of Alaska women have experienced intimate partner violence. The bill moved out of the Tribal Affairs Committee and has been in the House Rules Committee since April 29.