FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Fairbanks, Alaska, October 18, 2019)– Earlier this year U.S. Attorney General William Barr toured rural Alaska and learned about the crime and violence these areas face. The Denali Commission is happy to announce that Attorney General Barr is taking action to help improve safety and social wellbeing in rural Alaska. The Denali Commission is partnering with the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to administer a $7 million program to assist victims of crime located in tribal areas of the state.
“We thank Attorney General Barr and the Department of Justice for the tremendous support in addressing our public safety challenges in Alaska,” said the Alaska Congressional Delegation. “While our goal is to ultimately protect Alaskans and create safer communities, this award will help those who unfortunately have fallen victim to crimes. These funds will help our state’s most vulnerable, improving crucial services to help them heal and recover. Every victim deserves to know that perpetrators will face the full consequences for their crimes, and that the community will be there to protect and support survivors as they pursue justice.”
OVC is a component of the Department of Justice and is responsible for administering the Crime Victims Fund which supports a broad array of programs and services that assist victims of crimes throughout the nation. As part of this three year project the Denali Commission will assist Alaskan Tribes through capacity building and technical assistance with the vast majority of the funds set-aside for grants to communities and entities to provide crucial victim services. The Denali Commission is grateful for the support it has received from Alaskan stakeholders to support this effort to improve safety and security in rural Alaska and eager to be part of this effort to improve the services to victims of crime.
