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SACRAMENTO, CA – July 11, 2024 – The California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) awarded $19.58 million in grant awards in the second round of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Grant Program. These grants will support 18 federally recognized Indian tribes in California in their efforts to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

The MMIP Grant Program was established by the Budget Act of 2022 (Senate Bill 154, Chapter 43, Statutes of 2022) to provide competitive grants to federally recognized Indian tribes in California. The program aims to support efforts to identify, publicize, investigate, solve cases and collect case-level data involving missing and murdered Indigenous people. Grants will focus on activities such as developing culturally-based prevention strategies, strengthening responses to human trafficking, providing culturally appropriate support services to affected families and their communities, and improving cooperation and communication on jurisdictional issues between state, local, federal, and tribal law enforcement agencies.

For example:

• The Pit River Tribe will develop MMIP projects led by their Tribal Victim Witness department, to include culturally based support and resources for family members that have had their loved one go missing.
• The Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians will establish a tiny homes village for the unhoused, providing a culturally sensitive and safe living environment for the tribe's most vulnerable members.
• The Pechanga Band of Indians plans to hire a trained law enforcement investigator, a Human Trafficking Coordinator and a Master’s level Social Worker with a comprehensive background in commercial sexual exploitation in order to effectively respond to runaway juveniles, missing persons incidents and potential victims of human trafficking.

The FY 2024-2025 Budget provides an additional $13.25 million for the MMIP grant, and the BSCC anticipates releasing another Request for Proposals later this year. For more information about the MMIP Grant, please visit the MMIP Grant page or contact Field Representative Eddie Escobar at eddie.escobar@bscc.ca.gov.

The BSCC is a state agency responsible for providing leadership, coordination, and technical assistance to promote effective and efficient public safety solutions across California and its tribal nations.

 

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