Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Share with Youth: Advice to Young Adults from Young Adults: Helpful Hints for Policy Change in the Mental Health System
This resource (PDF, 8 pages) can guide youth- and young adult-led organizations that want to make policy changes in the mental health system. Developed bythe Research and Training Center for Pathways to Positive Futures and Portland State University, it contains recommendations and quotes from a series of interviews with young adult leaders from advocacy groups that focus on mental health challenges or living in foster care.
Resource: Understanding Neurobiology of Psychological Trauma: Tips for Working with Transition-Age Youth
This resource (PDF, 8 pages), developed by Pathways Research and Training Center, introduces service providers to scientifically-informed findings about brain development and trauma specific to young adults, and describes the implications for trauma-informed interventions and trauma-informed engagement of young people in services.
Share with Youth: Changing the Rules: A Guide for Youth and Young Adults with Mental Health Conditions Who Want to Change Policy
This policy guide, developed by Pathways RTC (Research and Training Center), is written for youth- and young adult-led groups and organizations that want to make changes in policies related to mental health and other human services that affect them and other transition-age youth. The guide is intended for use by youth and young adults working together within a group or organization to make specific change, usually in partnership with other agencies, groups, or organizations.
Charting the Course: Supporting the Career Development of Youth with Learning Disabilities
This Guide was developed to help youth service professionals better understand issues related to learning disabilities so that they can help youth with learning disabilities develop individual strategies that will enable them to succeed in the workplace.
Enhancing Program Performance with Logic Models
This course, from the University of Wisconsin Extension, provides a holistic approach to planning and evaluating education and outreach programs. It helps program practitioners use and apply logic models - a framework and way of thinking to help us improve our work and be accountable for results. You will learn what a logic model is and how to use one for planning, implementation, evaluation or communicating about your program.
Guideposts for Success for Youth with Mental Health Needs
The Guideposts for Success are a framework to assist the multiple organizations that need to be involved to meet the needs and improve the transition outcomes of all youth, including youth with disabilities. The guideposts discuss school-based services, career preparation, leadership opportunities, community services, and family involvement supports for youth with mental health needs. These documents were developed by the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability, which is supported by funds from the Department of Labor.
Tunnels and Cliffs: A Guide for Workforce Development Practitioners and Policymakers Serving Youth with Mental Health Needs
This guide provides practical information and resources for youth service professionals. In addition, it provides policymakers, from the program to the state level, with information to help them address system and policy obstacles in order to improve service delivery systems for youth with mental health needs.
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: National Dialogue with Youth People with Disabilities
This resource (PDF, 36 pages) provides a summary of the recent online event “YouthACT Transition Truths,” which provided an opportunity for youth with disabilities, as well as allies of the disability community, to virtually share ideas about the strategies and supports that can help young people with disabilities successfully transition to adulthood.
Share with Youth: FAFSA: Determining Your Dependency Status
Before students are ready to complete the FAFSA, they need to determine whether they will be under an independent or dependent status. This video describes how dependent applicants may need to include parental financial information.
Share with Youth: StudentLoans.gov/Repay
This website helps student find the loan repayment option that is best for them. By answering no more than five questions, the site helps borrowers identify repayment options, the materials needed, and the steps to register.
Military Youth on the Move
This site helps military youth cope with a deployment or move.
Above the Influence
This is the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign's site for teens. The site allows teens to examine the negative influences in their lives and how to rise above them. It offers extensive drug information in a fun, exploratory way
Drug Free Communities Support Program
The Drug-Free Communities Support Program is led by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). This anti-drug program provides grants of up to $100,000 to community coalitions that mobilize their communities to prevent youth alcohol, tobacco, illicit drug, and inhalant abuse. The grants support coalitions of youth; parents; media; law enforcement; school officials; faith-based organizations; fraternal organizations; State, local, and tribal government agencies; healthcare professionals; and other community representatives. The Drug-Free Communities Support Program enables the coalitions to strengthen their coordination and prevention efforts, encourage citizen participation in substance abuse reduction efforts, and disseminate information about effective programs.
Evidence-based Principles for Substance Abuse Prevention
This website presents a set of research-based principles upon which prevention programming can be based, as developed by ONDCP.
Methamphetamine Resources
The Federal government's central Web site for information and resources related to methamphetamine. The site was developed to assist policy makers, law enforcement, educators, health care professionals, and others who are working to reduce meth production, trafficking, and abuse. The site features a listserv to promote information sharing and interactive communication with professionals across the Nation.
Springtime: A Good Time to Think About Our Kids and Steroids
This blog post was written by Don Hooten, president of the Taylor Hooton Foundation, an advocacy group that raises awareness about the dangers of young people’s use of appearance- and performance-enhancing drugs (APED). It describes the prevalence and perception of APED use among youth and shares the story of Hooten’s son Taylor, who died after using anabolic steroids.
Guidance: Raising Awareness on Specific Learning Disabilities
This guidance for state and local educational agencies clarifies that students with specific learning disabilities — such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia — have unique educational needs. The guidance also clarifies that there is nothing in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act prohibiting the use of the terms dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia in a student’s evaluation, determination of eligibility for special education and related services, or in developing the student’s individualized education program.
Resource: Improving Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities in Juvenile Corrections
This toolkit includes evidence- and research-based practices, tools, and resources that educators, families, facilities, and community agencies can use to better support and improve the long-term outcomes for youth with disabilities in juvenile correctional facilities. The toolkit focuses on four key areas identified as part of an OSEP-sponsored focus group series on juvenile corrections: facility-wide practices, educational practices, transition and re-entry practices, and community and interagency practices.
Share with Youth: A Transition Guide to Postsecondary Education and Employment for Students and Youth with Disabilities
This guide (PDF, 62 pages) aims to educate students and youth with disabilities and their families about the transition from school to post-school activities. It includes information about transition planning, transition services and requirements, and education and employment options.
Defending Childhood
Attorney General Eric Holder launched the Defending Childhood initiative, which strives to harness resources from across the Department of Justice to prevent children's exposure to violence; mitigate the negative impact of children's exposure to violence when it does occur, and; develop knowledge and spread awareness about children's exposure to violence.
National Guard Youth Challenge Program
The mission of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program is to intervene in and reclaim the lives of at-risk youth to produce program graduates with the values, skills, education and self-discipline necessary to succeed as adults.