Mat-Su Responds

OVC’s mission is to enhance the Nation’s capacity to assist crime victims and provide leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime. OVC achieves this mission, in part, by administering discretionary award programs supported by the federal Crime Victims Fund to develop innovative training and technical assistance, and to provide direct services to improve the overall quality of victim assistance. The purpose of the FY 2018 Enhancing Community Responses to the Opioid Crisis: Serving Our Youngest Crime Victims is to address an urgent gap in crime victim services related to the opioid epidemic and to expand upon existing or establish new programs to provide services to children and youth who are victimized as a result of the opioid crisis. The overarching goal of this program is to support children and youth who are crime victims as a result of the opioid crisis by providing direct services and support to these young victims at a community or jurisdictional level.

With this award, the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc., (CITC) proposes a Mat-Su Responds (MSR) to address the exacerbation of the victimization of children and youth in Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Borough due to the opioid crisis. MSR will coordinate and expand service provision between two CITC service departments – Recovery Services and Child & Family Services (CFS). They will provide enhanced, aligned service provision to Mat-Su youth. The overall MSR strategy is to expand the number of CITC Youth Recovery Services and CFS staff dedicated to providing direct services in the Mat-Su. MSR will separately target teens and children aged 0–12. Teens will primarily be identified and served in peer-oriented settings, while children ages 0–12 will primarily be identified and served in a family services environment. Teen services will be centered on a peer-support model, with peer support available alongside first responders, as well as in assessment and direct service delivery settings. Case-managed direct services for children will be provided by a Family Navigator trained to support parents in conjunction with meeting the health and safety needs of children. Project participants (children, youth, and adult caregivers who are victims of crime resulting from the opioid crisis) will be referred through existing CITC and community programs serving victims of the opioid epidemic, and through targeted outreach to populations at risk, such as homeless youth.

CA/NCF