Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe Receives Major Grant
Oct 3, 2012
The Violence Against Women Tribal Governments Program has awarded the Three Sisters Program (formerly the STOP Domestic Violence Program) a grant for $596,071. The funding will allow a variety of agencies and departments, tribal and non-tribal to develop and implement protocols to address the needs of Native Americans who are victims of sexual assault. These agencies include the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Council, Tribal Police, Tribal Health Services, Tribal Social Services, the Franklin County District Attorney and the United States Attorney’s Office. Together they will implement the protocol as a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach to reduce violent crime against women.
“Native women suffer 2.5 times more violent crime than the national average,” said Amber Montour, Three Sisters Program Manager. “Statistics show that four out of five perpetrators are non-Indian. That’s one of the reasons why this funding support for this program is so important.”
One of the goals of the program is to provide access to Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners. Other goals are providing crisis intervention and advocacy for victims and the use of a Safe Home for crisis intervention. “This is an important step forward for our community,” noted Tribal Chief Randy Hart. “Our people are our most important resource and we have to do everything we can to protect them.” The program also includes increasing offender accountability. This will be accomplished by tracking orders of protection, victim notification and providing criminal court advocacy.
“We are no longer going to tolerate violence against women,” remarked Ron LaFrance, Tribal Chief. “Everybody in this community knows it’s wrong and that it needs to stop.” The funding allows the Three Sisters Program to strengthen and improve the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Response. The program will develop the policies and procedures in partnership with the Tribal Sexual Assault Response & Resource Team (SARRT), the Indian Health Services’ “best practices,” federal guidelines and New York State standards.
“I congratulate Amber, her staff and the team who put together this successful grant application,” remarked Tribal Chief Paul Thompson. “This shows that we have a hard-working and dedicated work force that does their best for our community.” The duration of the grant will be for a three-year period, beginning October 1, 2012.
Please direct media inquiries to David T. Staddon, Public Information Director at 518-358-2272, ext. 286.