FNWA Victim Service Intern Program (VSIP)

First Nations Women’s Alliance (FNWA), the designated Tribal domestic violence/sexual assault coalition in North Dakota (ND), proposes to implement a Developing Victim Specialists project involving Tribes, college campuses, and Tribal victim service organizations, and some urban programs that serve a majority of Native American people in ND. The project’s purpose is to create and sustain a pool of direct service workers for remote Tribal victim service programs serving Native Americans. The service area includes the following Tribal Nations: Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation, Spirit Lake Nation, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. Project activities include recruiting, hiring, training and mentoring cohorts of 10 student interns from surrounding Tribal colleges each semester, providing training to host sites on integrating new workers, and strengthening connections with Tribal colleges as a workforce resource. Expected outcomes include the development of a program framework, which facilitates and supports a sustainable pool of victim specialists for the service area. Beneficiaries include remote host sites and the Tribal communities, which they serve. In addition, a more consistent and committed workforce will improve and enhance services for Native victims in remote areas.