(Washington, DC, —September 30, 2003)—Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen is pleased to announce that the Unites States Department of Justice has awarded several agencies in the Virgin Islands with grants totaling $477,349.

The first grantee is the Virgin Islands Bureau of Corrections in St. Croix for the amount of $35,000, for the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Program. This program was developed through a federal partnership between the Department of Justice, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture.

 The goal of this partnership is to help state and local agencies navigate the complex field of existing state formula and block grants and to assist them in accessing, redeploying and leveraging those resources to support the components of a comprehensive reentry program. These funds specifically will be used as supplemental funding to support mental health and substance abuse treatment components of the re-entry program.

The second grant will go to the Women’s Coalition of St. Croix in the amount of $42,349, for the Grants to State Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Coalitions program. This program recognizes the critical role played by state sexual assault and domestic violence coalitions in the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act. The Women’s Coalition of St. Croix (WCSC) is a statewide, nonprofit, family violence prevention and services organization. The Coalition is working to develop and implement a Court Watch Program to ensure victims are safe and perpetrators are held accountable for their actions in the justice system.

The final grant will be awarded to the Virgin Islands Law Enforcement Planning Commission in the amount of $400,000, for the FY 2003 National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP). NCHIP assists states to improve the Nation’s public safety by enhancing the quality, completeness, and accessibility of the Nation’s criminal history and sex offender record systems and the extent to which such records can be used and analyzed for criminal justice and authorized noncriminal justice purposes.

These funds will be used for continued operation and enhancements of the resident file server that contains both the domestic violence and sex offenders databases, to continue implementation and expansion of the sex offender registration and community education program, to increase the volume of livescan transmission of fingerprints from the local AFIS system, and to provide connectivity for the Territorial Courts to the FBI/NCI System and local criminal justice agencies.

If you are interested in any of the information above please contact the respective agency.