Defending Childhood Initiative
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 02, 2010 |
Today the United States Attorney for the District of Montana, in conjunction with Deputy Associate Attorney General Karol Mason and members of the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Programs and Office of Violence Against Women, announced the conclusion of two days of meetings with the Chippewa Cree Tribal Council and other tribal members regarding the grant awarded to the tribe as part of the national Defending Childhood Initiative.
On September 23, 2010, Attorney General Eric Holder unveiled Defending Childhood, a new Department of Justice Initiative focused on addressing children's exposure to violence. The goals of the initiative are to prevent children's exposure to violence as victims and witnesses, mitigate the negative effects experienced by children exposed to violence, and develop knowledge about and increase awareness of the issue of children's exposure to violence.
A key component of the Initiative is a multi-year demonstration program. Phase I of the demonstration program includes planning grants for eight demonstration sites. The Chippewa Cree Tribe of Box Elder was one of the eight sites to be chosen nationally by the Department of Justice. The Tribe received a grant of $153,210 to develop a program that supports the development of comprehensive community based strategies to prevent and reduce the impact of children's exposure to violence in their homes, schools, and communities.
The meetings held with the Tribal Council as well as other tribal members on December 1 and 2 were organized by the Department of Justice to explain the grant implementation process as well as to offer the full support of the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Montana, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation towards the implementation of a program that addresses all of the goals of the Defending Childhood Initiative.
To learn more about the Defending Childhood Initiative please visit http://www.justice.gov/ag/defendingchildhood.