Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
You For Youth
This site helps youth professionals connect and share resources with colleagues, provide professional development and technical assistance opportunities, and offer tools for program improvement. The site provides information focused on afterschool programs.
Office of Disability Employment Policy, Department of Labor
The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) was authorized by Congress in the Department of Labor's FY 2001 appropriation. ODEP provides information for families, professionals, and communities on transitioning youth with disabilities into training and employment opportunities.
Teaching Soft Skills Through Workplace Simulation in Classroom Settings
The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy provides a resource focused on how schools and employment opportunities can teach soft skills, specifically for students with disabilities. Relevant soft skills, as mentioned in the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, include: teamwork, problem solving, effective use of resources and effective coommunication.
Share with Youth: Hitting the Open Road After High School
Co-written by teens for teens, this resource can help youth with disabilities (PDF, 16 pages) think about their options for life after high school. It provides information on post-graduation options and guides students in making choices that are right for them, finding activities that can help them get ready now, and accessing supportive services.
Resource: Personal Competencies for College & Career Success
This guide describes strategies postsecondary professionals can use to assist all students, including those with disabilities, to develop personal competencies that will increase their chances of success.
Resource: Mental Health Needs of Youth
This webpage, developed by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability, provides multiple resources on the mental health needs of youth, especially as they relate to employment. Youth service practitioners can use this information to better understand the needs of youth, and policymakers can utilize it in their work to address system and policy obstacles and improve service delivery systems for youth with mental health needs.
A Circle of Healing for Native Children Endangered by Drugs
“A Circle of Healing for Native Children Endangered by Drugs” is a seven-part video series that highlights best practices for meeting the needs of drug-endangered youth in tribal communities. Produced in collaboration with tribal and federal partners, the videos feature testimonials and examples of cultural practices that tribal communities can use to help traumatized children who are healing from drug endangerment.
Teen Dating Violence: How Peers Can Affect Risk & Protective Factors
This brief (PDF, 24 pages) draws on NIJ-funded research, as well as broader literature, to illustrate the ways teens shape each other’s relationship experiences and decisions to enter and leave romantic relationships that turn violent.
Child Trauma and its Effects: Implications for Police
This article describes child trauma and the negative impact it can have on development, and the implications this has for police, especially for those working in poor communities of color. The article also suggests police be trained on the high prevalence of severe childhood trauma in such communities, its effects on the developing child, and its impact on adolescent and adult functioning to increase their capacity to address this major public mental health issue.
OJJDP Releases Research on Youth's Mental Health Needs and Long-Term Outcomes after Detention
OJJDP released four research bulletins based on findings from the Northwestern Juvenile Project, which investigates the mental health needs and long-term outcomes of juvenile detainees:
- Detained Youth Processed in Juvenile and Adult Court: Psychiatric Disorders and Mental Health Needs (PDF, 16 pages)
- Perceived Barriers to Mental Health Services Among Detained Youth (PDF, 12 pages)
- Psychiatric Disorders in Youth After Detention (PDF, 20 pages)
- Violent Death in Delinquent Youth After Detention (PDF, 14 pages)
Toolkit: Helping Victims of Mass Violence & Terrorism
This toolkit aims to help communities prepare for and respond to victims of mass violence and terrorism in the most timely, effective, and compassionate manner possible. Professionals who are responsible for planning and responding to incidents of mass violence and terrorism can use this toolkit to develop a victim assistance plan, bring key partners together to develop or continue the use of a plan, and establish and implement victim assistance protocols.
Video: The Sobering Consequences of Underage Drinking
Supported by a grant from BJA, the Center for Public Safety Innovation and the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America released a video featuring a panel of experts discussing trends in underage drinking, consequences of underage drinking on adolescent health, and intervention and prevention strategies.
Resource: National Resource Center on School-Justice Partnerships Website
This website serves as a “one-stop-shop” of resources, training, and technical assistance to help school-justice partnerships implement positive school discipline reforms and reduce the school-to-juvenile justice pathway.
Report: Impact of Domestic Violence Policies and Practices on Girls and Young Women
This summary report (PDF, 19 pages) by OJJDP’s National Girls Initiative explains the issues discussed during a roundtable event with advocates from the violence against women and juvenile justice reform for girls communities. The report describes a set of principles identified by participants; research gaps; and promising future federal, state, and local directions to ensure girls and young women are not criminalized for behaviors due to experiences of trauma, and can access services and supports.
Report: Youth Involvement in the Sex Trade: A National Study
This report (PDF, 166 pages) describes a recent multi-method, multi-site study using interviews with more than 900 youth involved in the sex trade to better understand the lives and needs of these youth.
Report: Youth Involvement in the Sex Trade
This report (PDF, 166 pages) provides an overview of a multi-site study of youth involvement in the commercial sex trade. It includes information from nearly 1,000 youth interviews, arrest patterns, and prosecution and recidivism outcomes for these youth, and findings from interviews with service providers and police officers.
Report: National Survey of Teen Relationships and Intimate Violence
This report (PDF, 18 pages) by NORC at the University of Chicago describes a study that measured the nature and scope of teen dating violence, including who perpetrates such violence and who has been victimized. The study found that approximately two thirds of youth who were in a relationship, or had been in one in the past year, reported they had been victimized (69%) or perpetrated violence (63%).
Resource: Engage, Involve, Empower: Family Engagement in Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts
This technical assistance brief provides recommendations for successful family engagement within a juvenile drug treatment court program. Prepared by the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice in partnership with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the brief also includes a self-assessment tool and descriptions of two juvenile drug treatment courts that demonstrate a strong commitment to family engagement. Professionals working in juvenile drug treatment courts can use this brief to assess their current levels of family engagement and enhance their efforts to engage families.
Resource: Considering Family Context as an Important Element in the Prevention and Intervention of the Development of Teen Dating Violence
This article describes two NIJ-funded studies that highlight the importance of family context in the development of aggression and teen dating violence. Organizations that serve parents of high-risk youth can use this information to inform how they address mental health, marital conflict, and parenting skills.
Resource: A Guide to the Guidelines: Practical Tips for Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts to Implement
This guide (PDF, 13 pages), developed by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, describes the objectives outlined in OJJDP’s Juvenile Drug Treatment Guidelines (PDF, 60 pages) and provides suggested short-term and long-term actions related to each objective. Juvenile drug treatment courts (JDTC) can use this information to guide the implementation, operation, and evaluation of their practices.
Resource: Drug Courts
This article (PDF, 2 pages) provides an overview of the varying types of drug courts. Criminal defendants and offenders, family members, criminal justice practitioners, and drug treatment professionals can use this information to understand the purpose and function of drug courts and to find related research and resources.
Resource: Arts-Based Programs and Arts Therapies Literature Review
This literature review (PDF, 9 pages) explores recent research on arts-based programs and arts therapies for at-risk, justice-involved, and traumatized youth. It describes the theoretical foundation that supports the use of these therapies, outcome evidence found in the literature, and model program descriptions. Youth-serving professionals can use this resource to learn about programs that have demonstrated positive impacts on youth. Researchers can use it to understand the current state of research on this topic and to explore how future studies can address how and in which optimal conditions the arts can directly impact youth.
Resource: Arts-Based Programs and Arts Therapies Webpage
This webpage from the Model Programs Guide provides summaries and ratings of arts-based programs and arts therapies for at-risk, justice-involved, and traumatized or victimized youth. Youth-serving professionals and organizations can use this information when looking for interventions to implement.
Report: Predicting Intimate Partner Violence for At-Risk Young Adults and Their Romantic Partners
This report describes a study examining the developmental and familial pathways to intimate partner violence involvement in young adulthood and identified partner influences on intimate partner violence.
Resource: Strategies to Build Family and Youth Engagement to Keep Kids in School
This podcast series was produced by the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice with OJJDP’s School-Justice Partnership Program. It explores the challenges that parents and other caregivers of youth with behavioral health needs face regarding school, and how effective family and youth engagement can help overcome these challenges.