NIWRC to Administer $1.75 Million to Sustain Alaska-Specific Resource Center Services
The interim arrangement ensures Alaska Native Tribes and Villages see no gap in federal support.
LAME DEER, Mont. — The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) will administer $1.75 million in supplemental funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services (OFVPS) to sustain Alaska-specific resource center services through this fiscal year. By taking on this role during an interim funding period, NIWRC is ensuring there is no gap in federal support for Alaska Native Tribes and Villages working to prevent and respond to family, domestic, and dating violence.
NIWRC will manage the federal award and subaward the funds to the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center (AKNWRC), which remains responsible for carrying out its programs and services. NIWRC will provide programmatic grant management oversight throughout the subaward period.
In addition, $250,000 in support for Alaska Native Tribes and Villages will be administered through the National Center on Formula Capacity Building to support in-person convenings, helping strengthen collaboration, peer learning, and community engagement across Alaska Tribal communities.
In 2015, NIWRC helped establish the AKNWRC to provide training, technical assistance, and resources to Alaska Native Tribes, Tribal Coalitions, and Villages. Alaska is home to 229 federally recognized Tribal Nations, many in remote villages off the road system, and their distinct needs and priorities call for resources designed specifically for the many Alaska Native cultures.
“Alaska Native Tribes and Villages know what safety looks like for their own communities, and they deserve resources built around those priorities,” said Lucy Simpson, chief executive officer of NIWRC. “NIWRC helped build that foundation in 2015, and we take that responsibility seriously. Stepping in to keep this support in place is part of that responsibility.”
“Alaska’s Tribes are building their own courts and victim services programming and resources, and the AKNWRC has worked alongside them for more than a decade,” said Tami Truett Jerue, executive director of the AKNWRC. “We are grateful to our friends and allies, especially NIWRC, for being there when we needed them most. We look forward to working with NIWRC and OFVPS to continue seamless Technical Assistance and Training to Alaska’s 229 Tribal nations, Tribal domestic violence programs, Tribal coalitions, state and federal partners, and non-native programs serving Alaska Native survivors. We feel very blessed to continue the work under this subaward, and we will continue to pursue future funding.”
About NIWRC
The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) is a Native women-led national nonprofit advancing safety for Native women and communities. Rooted in the inherent sovereignty of Tribal Nations to protect their own citizens, NIWRC supports Tribal Nations and Tribal programs through culturally grounded, grassroots advocacy that strengthens their capacity to prevent and respond to family, domestic, and dating violence. Learn more at niwrc.org.
About AKNWRC
Organized in 2015, the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center is a Tribal nonprofit organization dedicated to ending violence against women, in partnership with Alaska’s 229 Tribes, Tribal coalitions, and allied organizations. AKNWRC board members are Alaska Native women raised in Alaska Native Villages and have 153 years of combined experience in Tribal governments, nonprofit management, domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy (both individual crisis and systems), and grassroots social change advocacy at the local, statewide, regional, national, and international levels. AKNWRC’s philosophy is that violence against women is rooted in the dispossession of Indigenous Nations. www.aknwrc.org.