Pascua Yaqui Tribal Court Project

The purposes of the FY 2009 Tribal Courts Assistance Program (TCAP) are to develop new tribal courts, improve the operations of existing tribal courts, and provide training and technical assistance for tribal court staff. The TCAP program goals are to provide planning grants that will focus on establishing tribal courts by supporting the development of comprehensive strategy and implementation plans, provide grants for existing tribal court systems to enhance tribal court services, and provide planning grants for tribal justice system strategies.

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe will provide legal representation and advocacy for and on behalf of court-involved tribal youth. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe will hire a juvenile justice program facilitator to manage the needs of court-involved tribal youth, and provide stipends for legal representation and advocacy for court-involved youth. They will establish a Juvenile Justice Program Advisory Team and provide training, subcontract with a tribal juvenile court facilitator, establish juvenile advocate criteria and recruit advocates, assign juvenile advocates to juvenile detainees, and develop a qualitative evaluation that will measure project impact. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe will increase the number of court-involved youth in the project, explore program sustainability strategies, and expand tribal programs to provide preventive services that foster emotional, mental, and spiritual support for court-involved youth.

CA/NCF