Welcome to the VAW Task Force Resource Center
On November 17, 2000 in St. Paul Minnesota, the National Congress of American Indians passed a resolution establishing the Violence Against Women Act Task Force. Three years later, nonprofit Tribal domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions partnered to breathe life into this resolution. The NCAI Violence Against Women (VAW) Task Force was born.
For more than twenty years, the NCAI VAW Task Force and its partners have worked tirelessly to protect Native women and communities, and to ensure the sovereign rights of Tribes to protect their own people on their own lands. This resource center was created with the support of the VAW Task Force and its partners.
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Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women/People (MMIW)
As a policy issue, MMIW refers to the ongoing efforts to reduce violence against AI/AN women, prosecute crimes when they do occur, and provide culturally-appropriate services to victims and their families.
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
Signed into law by President Clinton on September 13, 1994, VAWA increased criminal penalties and provided grants to address rape, sexual assault, domestic abuse and other gender-related violence. Since its initial passage, VAWA has been reauthorized four times: 2000, 2005, 2013, and 2022.
Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA)
Supports lifesaving services for victims of domestic violence and their children, including emergency shelters, crisis hotlines, counseling, and programs for communities throughout the United States, American Indian and Alaska Native communities, and territories.
Victims of Crime Act (VOCA)
Since its creation in 1984, the VOCA statute allocates funds made available from the Crime Victims Fund for a host of purposes, including the Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside program which provides support to Tribal communities to enhance services for victims of crime through a formula grant program.
Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA)
TLOA is a law signed into effect in 2010 that expands the punitive abilities of tribal courts across the nation. This law allows tribal courts operating in Indian Country to increase jail sentences handed down in criminal cases over Indian offenders.
