Tlingit & Haida gets $750,000 for Southeast Alaska youth reentry program

The Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska received a $750,000 federal grant to strengthen a community-based reentry program for tribal youth ages 14 to 21 in the juvenile justice system in Juneau and surrounding Southeast communities. The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs obligated the money Oct. 22.

The program will serve those youth, particularly those with moderate- to high-risk needs, along with their families and communities, according to the federal award record. The record says no intensive wraparound reentry option currently exists in the region.

Key partners are the Alaska Division of Juvenile Justice and Tlingit & Haida's Community & Behavioral Services Healing Center. Other community-based organizations will support service delivery and continuity of care, the record says.

The money comes through the federal Second Chance Act Reentry Initiative. The Justice Department says juvenile reentry begins at confinement and includes release planning, post-release supervision and services. The grant period began Nov. 1 and runs through Oct. 31, 2029.

The full $750,000 has been obligated, meaning committed. That does not mean it has been spent.

The tribe's Executive Council voted 6-0 on March 26 to authorize the application. The resolution described awards of up to $750,000 over 36 months, including the full amount of the tribe's federally approved indirect rate. It named President Richard J. Peterson or his designee to manage the application and the grant. The tribe represents more than 38,000 citizens.

The same federal program also sent $1 million to the Alaska Department of Corrections on Oct. 16. That grant would expand Home for Good Anchorage, which provides supportive housing and intensive case management, to people leaving state custody.

The tribe has received other federal grants this fall, including $1.05 million for youth classes in Juneau and Angoon and help for kinship caregivers.