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- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
USDA 1890 National Scholars Program
The USDA 1890 National Scholars Program is aimed at bolstering educational and career opportunities for students from rural or underserved communities around the country. The scholarship provides recipients with full tuition, fees, books, and room and board to attend one of the 1890 land-grant universities and pursue degrees in agriculture, food, natural resource sciences, or related academic disciplines. The scholarship may also include work experience at USDA.
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.
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.
Civil Rights Guidance to K-12 Schools on Single-Sex Classes
Guidance from OCR advises schools on how to offer single-sex classes (PDF, 36 pages) while complying with Title IX. Presented in a question-and-answer format, the guidance addresses common scenarios that schools may face when designing single-sex programs.
Supporting the Success of Youth in Juvenile Justice Settings
On February 25, 2015, OCR and the Choice Program at UMBC partnered to host a symposium on supporting the education of young people in juvenile justice settings. At the event, young people who have had brushes with the law shared how the Choice Program is helping them to turn their lives around.
Report: Delivering Justice
This report (PDF, 44 pages) describes OCR’s efforts during the last year to protect students’ civil rights and increase educational equity. The report includes examples of OCR’s enforcement activities, highlights of notable cases, and the guidance documents OCR released in 2015.
Report: Sexual Victimization in Prisons, Jails, and Juvenile Correctional Facilities
This report (PDF, 97 pages) presents the findings of the Review Panel on Prison Rape. The Panel gathered information on the practices of selected correctional institutions that had either a low or a high prevalence of inmate sexual victimization and made recommendations that aim to help eliminate sexual victimization in prisons, jails, and juvenile correctional facilities.
Resource: Combatting Discrimination Against AANHPI and MASSA Students
This policy fact sheet (PDF, 1 page) supports educators and community leaders as they work to protect all students, including Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) and Muslim, Arab, Sikh, and South Asian (MASSA) students, from discrimination and to create safe and supportive learning environments.
Resource: Dear Colleague Letter on Gender Equity in Career and Technical Education
This Dear Colleague Letter (PDF, 17 pages) emphasizes that students, regardless of their sex, must have equal access to the range of career and technical programs offered. It also provides examples of how schools could fail to comply with these requirement and the actions they could take to remedy any violations.
Resource: Civil Rights of Students with ADHD
This guidance (PDF, 42 pages) clarifies the obligation of schools to provide students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with equal educational opportunity under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Resource: Protecting Students from Religious Discrimination
This website features federal resources regarding religious discrimination, as well as policy guidance and examples of OCR case resolutions involving religious discrimination claims.
Report: Securing Equal Educational Opportunity
This annual report (PDF, 44 pages) summarizes OCR’s compliance and enforcement activities in FY 2016. OCR received a record 16,270 complaint filings, resolved 8,625 cases, and initiated 13 proactive compliance reviews.
Resource: Parent and Educator Resource Guide to Section 504 in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools
This resource guide (PDF, 52 pages) summarizes key requirements of Section 504, the federal law that provides a broad spectrum of protections for students against discrimination on the basis of disability, and explains how Section 504 applies in various situations within public elementary and secondary schools. This guide can help members of the school community better understand Section 504 and assist parents of students with disabilities in ensuring their children secure all the services they are entitled to receive.
Resource: Restraint and Seclusion of Students with Disabilities
This Dear Colleague Letter (PDF, 124 pages) describes restraint and seclusion, and the limits federal civil rights laws impose on the use of these practices by public schools. This resource, and an accompanying question and answer document (PDF, 2 pages), can help schools and school districts understand how the use of restraint and seclusion may result in discrimination against students with disabilities.
Problem-Oriented Guides for Police
The Problem-Oriented Guides for Police summarize knowledge about how police can reduce the harm caused by specific crime and disorder problems. They are guides to prevention and to improving the overall response to incidents, not to investigating offenses or handling specific incidents.
IACP Launches No-Cost Online Training on Child Trafficking
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), in collaboration with COPS and the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Section, released “Child Sex Trafficking: A Training Series for Frontline Officers.” This free, self-paced online course will educate frontline officers on how to recognize and respond to victims of child sex trafficking.
Resource: Focused Deterrence of High-Risk Individuals: Response Guide No. 13
This guide, developed by the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, describes the concept of focused deterrence initiatives (FDI), administering and leading an FDI, and applying focused deterrence to specific crime problems. Police and police departments can use this guide to design and implement local FDIs.
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.
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.
Tribal Justice and Safety
The site features the latest announcements, press releases, speeches and information regarding Department of Justice initiatives in tribal communities. It also provides comprehensive resources available through the Office of Tribal Justice and the Department's grant-making divisions: the Office of Justice Programs, Community Oriented Policing Services and the Office on Violence Against Women. Access to the Department's Combined Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) is also available on the Web site.