The Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRN) is an essential coordinating network that provides training, technical assistance, and systems-based advocacy to existing grantees or anyone wanting to help survivors. The DVRN’s efforts help ensure that every state, tribe, and community can offer essential services to individuals who experience and are recovering from domestic violence. The DVRN brings a collective voice to advocates, organizations, and programs that work to prevent and address domestic violence with the support of discretionary grant funding. This work is done through national, special issue, culturally specific, and emerging or current issue resource centers and national domestic violence hotlines. This Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services factsheet lists DVRN’s partner organizations that work together to improve domestic violence prevention and intervention for people, families, communities, and the very systems set up to support and respond to this important societal concern.

The Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRN) is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to inform and strengthen domestic violence intervention and prevention efforts at the individual, community, and societal levels. DVRN works collaboratively to promote practices and strategies to improve our nation’s response to domestic violence and make safety and justice not just a priority, but also a reality. DVRN member organizations ensure that victims of domestic violence and professionals (including but not limited to advocates, community‐based programs, case managers, and government leaders at the local, state, tribal and federal levels) have access to up‐to-date information on best practices, policies, research, and victim resources.

The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center is hosting a re-watch of a webinar hosted originally in 2023, on February 21, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. ET. In this live re-watch, participants will hear a discussion on how youth advocates can address teen dating violence in Tribal communities. The webinar will include available tools and resources for Native youth; defining violent versus healthy relationships, and empowering the next generation through Indigenous values.

The Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation released an Excel workbook of data collection templates designed as a resource to support current and future Tribal TANF-Child Welfare Coordination (TTCW) grantees in their data collection planning. The included templates are intended to support the planning, collection, and reporting of TTCW program data. This resource includes a data collection template, a client anecdotes tracker, and a reporting planner template.

The targeting and scale of missing Indigenous relatives is deeply concerning and rooted in historical injustices, marginalization, and socio-economic disparities. The connection between exploitation and the displacement of Indigenous communities underscores the importance of addressing the root causes of vulnerability. This involves enhancing collaboration between Indigenous leaders, law enforcement, and policy makers to develop effective strategies for prevention, intervention, and support for victims and their families as described in the findings of the Not Invisible Act Commission. This blogpost from the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) and the Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) provides resources for tribal leaders, Indigenous-led organizations, and state and federal partners committed to searching for missing relatives and loved ones. The resources include a podcast series on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, a paper on culturally based prevention strategies, online trainings on strengthening screening and trauma-informed responses to human trafficking – and more.

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2023 forced TANF programs to rethink service delivery. Programs were forced to find new ways to implement policies and innovate through the use of technology. In response, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) launched the Leveraging America’s Social and Economic Resilience (LASER) TANF Learning Community (TLC). LASER TLC builds on the immediate adaptations to the pandemic. It helps programs design and implement sustainable strategies for the post-pandemic world.

Four of the ten program teams, highlighted here, focused their efforts on modernization projects. These four TANF program teams are: the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians Tribal TANF program; the North Carolina Work First Program; the Kentucky Works Program; and the North Dakota TANF Program.

This brief highlights the small and large ways of approaching TANF modernization. It further offers insight into what can be achieved through small, intentional steps guided by a bold vision for innovation.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), partnering with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), announced certain “Title IV-B” child welfare services have been integrated to improve effectiveness. Under Public Law 102-477, Tribes can integrate their federal employment, training, and related services from across the federal government to improve the effectiveness of those services. Specifically, ACF recommended and BIA approved for Citizen Potawatomi Nation to integrate its child welfare services grants with several other federal grants for employment, training and related services into a single program and budget to address tribal priorities. Other ACF programs integrated are the Child Care and Development Fund, Community Services Block Grant, Native Employment Works and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs.

Registered apprenticeship programs (RAPs) are industry-driven, high-quality career pathways that not only allow employers to build a future-focused workforce but also provide high-paying, high-quality job opportunities for individual career seekers. Given that four-year education and secondary education systems are not attractive or feasible to everyone, RAPs provide a dynamic alternate solution for youth to gain skills and experience in fields of interest while earning a progressive wage and receiving on-the-job training. The American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) population is—and has historically been—underrepresented in RAPs across all age groups and occupations. Of the 547,922 active apprentices in FY2021, only 6,523 individuals identified as AI/AN. This Cybersecurity Youth Apprenticeship Initiative white paper includes culturally relevant tips and best practices to better recruit and employ AI/AN youth.

This Native Center webinar is a part of a series that examines the history of disability within Native communities, present-day challenges, and the possible solutions to creating a more equitable and accessible future for Native people with disabilities. Participants come away from the series with a greater understanding of the unique intersectionality of disability and Native populations as well as culturally-based strategies and approaches that can help improve the quality of life for Native people with disabilities. The Native Center will be hosting the November webinar on November 16, 2023 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. MDT, which will highlight available resources and programs for Native veterans.

As of 2021, up to 17.5% of working age American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians reported they have a disability. However, only 2.2% of Division of Indian and Native American Programs grantee participants reported they have a disability. Low reporting may indicate that participants do not know that they can receive accommodations to help them be more successful during a training program and at their workplace if they disclose that they have a disability. Also, workforce development staff may not realize that they can leverage partners to provide more comprehensive services for participants with disabilities to ensure their success and/or may not know how to broach the topic with customers.

The National Center on Leadership for the Employment and Economic Advancement of People with Disabilities hosted part-two of a two-part series on December 10, 2021 where attendees learned best practices and strategies in building partnerships and leveraging resources across federal, state, and local systems.