The Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition (MIWSAC) announced the launch of their pilot site application for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Persons Healing & Response Teams (HRT) project, in partnership with the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) and the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center (AKNWRC).
The MMIP Healing & Response Teams Initiative focuses on MMIP cases intersecting with domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sex trafficking. The initiative aims to establish victim-centered, trauma-informed, culturally responsive pathways, and to enhance intergovernmental coordination in cases of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Persons.
“As a project that builds on existing Tribal care systems, the MMIP Healing & Response Teams (HRT) Initiative seeks to address the critical issue of violence that our people face,” said Melissa Skeet, MIWSAC’s MMIP Project Coordinator. “The HRT pilot site application is the beginning of addressing these issues, as we look to build healing and response teams that support survivors and families in ways that are appropriate and unique to each community.”
To apply to become a pilot site, applicants should have experience responding to MMIP cases and working with survivors and families. One (1) pilot site will be selected from each of the following three (3) categories: Indian Tribal Governments or Tribal Consortiums; Tribal Coalitions; Urban Indian or Tribal Nonprofit Organizations.
The launch of the MMIP HRT pilot site application is the beginning of building culturally-informed and community-specific healing and response teams to address the legacy of violence in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities within this country.
To learn more about the MMIP Healing & Response Teams Special Initiative, and the Pilot Site Application, visit our MMIP Healing & Response Teams page.
Interested in becoming an HRT Pilot Site? Apply here.