Protecting Samoa's Children Project

OVC’s mission is to enhance the nation’s capacity to assist crime victims and provide leadership in changing 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 this solicitation is to address an urgent gap in crime victim services related to America’s Drug Crisis to support direct services to children and youth who are crime victims as a result of the nation’s addiction crisis.

This award made to Empowering Pacific Island Communities is funded under OVC FY2020 Enhancing Community Responses to America’s Addiction Crisis: Serving Our Youngest Crime Victims. Project Puipui Tatou Fanau (Protecting Our Children) is a collaborative partnership between the Empowering Pacific Island Communities, a direct service provider nonprofit organization incorporated in American Samoa to serve Native Pacific Islanders (Lead Applicant), Pacific Youth and Community Development, a Community-Based Organization Youth Services Provider focused on providing education, prevention programming and intervention training for youth service organizations in a variety of settings and its partners. The overall goal of Project Puipui Tatou Fanau is to intervene and improve the lives of children and youth who have been victims of crime due to the methamphetamine and opioid crisis and to educate the community on the prevalence of victimization and the resources available to address the youth’s needs.

This project will serve the territory of American Samoa targeting child and youth crime victims from infants to youth 17 and under, male and female. Within the three-year grant period, Project Puipui Tatou Fanau will provide culturally-competent, individually-responsive and trauma-informed services to 225 children and youth. The project’s strategy is threefold: expand direct care services for children and youth, identify and analyze data to address the gaps and needs of children and youth, and strengthen community partnerships to implement these strategies in the community.

CA/NCF