Heidi Bell Gease, Journal staff | Posted: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 11:00 pm
|
With 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
