Restoration Magazine

Welcome Ms. Sherriann C. Moore, New Deputy Director of Tribal Affairs for the USDOJ, Office on Violence Against Women

Tami Truett Jerue, Executive Director, Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center; Shirley Moses, Board, AKNWRC & Executive Director, Healing Native Hearts Coalition; Sherriann Moore, Tribal Deputy Director, OVW; Priscilla Kameroff, Board, AKNWRC & Policy Specialist, Yup’ik Women’s Coalition; Joann Horn, Board, AKNWRC & Executive Director, Emmonak Women’s Shelter; & Lynn Hootch, Board, AKNWRC & NIWRC & Executive Director, Yup’ik Women’s Coalition.

Ms. Sherriann Moore, a member of the Rosebud Sicangu Lakota Tribe in South Dakota, is the newly selected Deputy Director of Tribal Affairs for the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. Ms. Moore joined the office in February 2017 and replaces the first Deputy Director, Lorraine Edmo, who retired after serving in the position for 10 years.

Ms. Moore earned her Master’s Degree in Health Services Administration from the University of South Dakota, Vermillion,

“As the new OVW Tribal Deputy Director, I look forward to working with tribes and leading the charge to assist tribes in safeguarding the lives of Indian women. Moving together we can continue changing the culture and restoring the balance in our tribal nations.”
—Ms. Sherriann Moore

SD. She brings a wealth of experience at both the federal and tribal government levels. In 2004, Ms. Moore joined HHS Indian Health Services as the Deputy to the Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Health (IHS) Service Unit in Pine Ridge, SD. In 2010, she moved to the IHS headquarters in Rockville, MD, where she served as the Deputy Director of the Office of Urban Indian Health Programs.

“As the new OVW Tribal Deputy Director, I look forward to working with tribes and leading the charge to assist tribes in safeguarding the lives of Indian women. Moving together we can continue changing the culture and restoring the balance in our tribal nations.”
—Ms. Sherriann Moore

In 2005, Congress reauthorized VAWA and included under the Act the Safety for Indian Women Title, including the Deputy Director of Tribal Affairs. The position includes a broad list of statutorily created set of authorities. As Deputy Director, Ms. Moore, will implement under the statute federal leadership, national oversight, and guidance for policy development and management of OVW tribal affairs that pertain to the Violence Against Women Act. This encompasses administration of tribal funds and programs; enhancing the safety of American Indian and Alaska Native women from domestic violence, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sex trafficking; strengthening the federal response to such violent crimes; and supporting tribes and tribal organizations in the development of their organizational capacity to end violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women in our nation’s tribal and urban Indian communities.

Ms. Moore will work with the OVW leadership team to improve standards for the delivery of victim services and expand training and technical assistance for professionals who work in Indian Country to prevent and respond to violent crimes by strengthening services to victims and holding offenders accountable for their actions.

 

(From left to right) Carmen O’Leary, Board, NIWRC & Executive Director, Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains; Wendy Schlater, Board, NIWRC & Director, Avellaka Program, La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians; Sherriann Moore, Tribal Deputy Director, OVW; Dorma Sahneyah, Director, TA/Training Division, NIWRC; Leanne Guy, Board, NIWRC & Executive Director, Southwest Indigenous Women’s Coalition

 

(From left to right) Guadalupe Lopez, TA Training Coordinator, MIWSAC; Nicole Matthews, Executive Director, MIWSAC; Sherriann Moore, Tribal Deputy Director, Amanda Watson, Trainer/Facilitator; Linda Thompson, Membership & Outreach Coordinator.

 

(From left to right) Tiffany Barrett, Director, Citizen Potawatomi Nation House of Hope and Native Alliance Against Violence (NAAV) Regional Representative; Dawn R. Stover, Executive Director, NAAV; Shelley Miller, Advocacy Specialist, NAAV; Raven Cabaniss, Communications Specialist, NAAV.

Photos: Comanche Fairbanks, Media & Community Specialist, Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition (MIWSAC).