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OST program honored for helping crime victims
Advocates travel to Washington to receive award
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FarkWith limited funding, a big territory and a small staff, the Oglala Sioux Tribe Victims’ Assistance office operates by finding creative ways to help victims of crime on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
That creativity recently helped them land one of three national awards for extraordinary efforts to serve crime victims.
Program director Rosalie Janis and advocate Lema Richards traveled to Washington, D.C., to receive the National Crime Victim Service Award from U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. The tribal program was the only American Indian program recognized.
“We didn’t even realize what an honor this was,” Janis said. “It was awesome.”
The U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime sponsors this and other annual awards. This year, 12 people and three organizations were honored for their work serving victims of crime.
The tribe’s victims’ assistance program started about 20 years ago, Janis said. Its four employees – Janis, Richards, Linda Bull Bear and Ricky Gray Grass – help victims of diverse tribal and federal crimes, including elder abuse cases, women who have been sexually assaulted and families of murder victims.
Each year the OSTVA office serves about 300 clients throughout the reservation, some of them as far as 100 miles from the Pine Ridge office.
Given the program’s limited federal funding and isolated location, advocates must be creative to meet victims’ needs. Those needs might include help filing a tribal protection order, a ride to a court hearing in Rapid City, or safe shelter for a mother and young children.
“We don’t have funding for emergency shelter, so we collaborate with a lot of other agencies,” both on and off the reservation, Janis said. “What we do is we make contacts with people who have contacts.”
Advocates often make sacrifices, too.
“The employees who work with me are amazing,” Janis said. “They don’t always get mileage, but they still get out there and make their contacts and sometimes use their own money. And they don’t make that much.”
The dedication of those advocates, along with the support of tribal leaders, helped the program win the award, Janis said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Royce often works with OSTVA advocates when prosecuting reservation crimes. She nominated them for the award.
“I’ve had them just make some extraordinary efforts on some of my cases,” she said. In one case, when a rape victim later had a baby, the OSTVA staff helped make sure she had everything she needed for the infant.
“They just do whatever,” Royce said. “It’s amazing.”
The national award and tribal recognition mean a lot to program employees. But Janis said the job itself also has its rewards.
“It’s almost a satisfaction that I’ve never felt before,” she said. “Because I feel that I truly, truly am helping people that honestly need this help.
“What happened to them, they did not ask for. They need help to get through it.”
Luckily for victims, Janis, Gray Grass, Richards and Bull Bear are there to provide it.
Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com
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