Federal Resources

This report presents the most recent data on school crime and student safety. Topics covered include victimization at school, teacher injury, bullying and cyberbullying, school conditions, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and a special spotlight section on juveniles in residential placement facilities. 

This report presents estimates of nonfatal violence victimizations committed by adolescents during 2004-13 and compares the characteristics of victimizations committed by adolescents acting alone and with other young people. The data show adolescent offenders committed 22% of all violent victimizations during this period, and more violent victimizations were committed by adolescents who acted alone than those who acted with co-offenders. 

This annual report presents data on crime at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population. Topics addressed include victimization, bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, the presence of security staff at school, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and criminal incidents at postsecondary institutions. 

The National Runaway Safeline updated the Let’s Talk: Runaway Prevention Curriculum with new topics, resources, and activities. This free, evidence-based curriculum includes 14 modules on topics ranging from communication and listening to the realities of running away to strategies youth can use to reduce stress. 

This report examines multiple youth programs that are working to prevent human trafficking and support survivors. It also provides guidance for providers who are working with young human trafficking survivors who have recently exited abuse. 

This slideshow highlights five types of professionals that runaway and homeless youth program managers can collaborate with to support youth who have experienced trauma. 

This article explains the guidance provided in a recent “Dear Colleague” letter (PDF, 4 pages) issued by the Department of Education which explains how school districts can use Title I funds to help children and youth experiencing homelessness. Some examples of ways districts can use the funds are to transport homeless students to and from school, pay the salaries of staff who work with homeless youth, and to generally meet the needs of these students. 

This article describes a study that used data from the 2005, 2007, and 2009 New York City Youth Risk Behavior Surveys to understand how sexual orientation affects high-school students' risk of getting pregnant or getting someone pregnant. Results show that a young person’s sexual orientation and the gender of their sexual partners was strongly linked with risk of getting pregnant or getting someone pregnant, suggesting that adolescent pregnancy prevention efforts focused exclusively on heterosexual young people may be too narrow. 

This slideshow highlights five campaigns and organizations that focus on the strengths and needs of young parents and provides links to additional resources on supporting parenting teens. 

This article analyzes research describing and evaluating two family-based approaches to preventing teen dating violence, Families for Safe Dates and Moms and Teens for Safe Dates.

This blog post provides five tips for youth-serving professionals on working with traveling youth, also known as transient youth, which are homeless youth who choose to travel around the country. 

This blog post describes a guide that provides ideas to professionals who work with foster youth on how to tailor teen pregnancy prevention programs to this population. The guide was developed with input from foster youth and alumni. 

This resource describes a literature review that explores the potential mental health benefits and concerns of using narrative writing with youth and young adults. 

This slideshow highlights six free apps that can help youth avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

This podcast features representatives from Tumbleweed Runaway Program, a grantee in FYSB’s Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking Program, describing some of the challenges they face while serving trafficked youth and how the grant will help. 

This slideshow features free apps that can help youth avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. It includes a brief description of each app and a link to where it can be downloaded. 

This resource describes the legal issues homeless youth may face and how organizations can help them access assistance to prevent those issues from negatively impacting their future. 

This article highlights a recent study which examined why teens talk with extended family members about sex and what they discuss. The results indicate that almost 60% of teens in the study talked with extended family members about sex, and youth who said they talked exclusively to extended family members about sex were more than twice as likely to have had sex. 

This slideshow highlights the six FYSB adulthood preparation subjects that grantees of the Personal Responsibility Education Program teach to help prepare young people for adulthood. The slideshow also addresses how other youth-serving professionals can incorporate these subjects into their programs.

This article highlights a literature review that analyzed the research on prevalence, risk factors, and outcomes of running away from foster care, as well as the interventions implemented to stop it from happening. 

This report (PDF, 30 pages) illustrates trends in the characteristics of young people in crisis who contact the National Runaway Safeline for help. The results show that abuse and neglect were among the most common issues reported by those seeking support.

This article highlights four tips for starting a mindfulness program for homeless youth. Mindfulness programs can give homeless young people insight into how their experiences have shaped their thinking and behavior and help them learn to control how they react to everyday stressors. 

This article highlights free resources educators and youth service providers can use to implement the Trevor Project’s Lifeguard Workshop, a program encouraging young people to be “lifeguards” for one another by having the knowledge to help in a crisis. Professionals can request a free, in-person workshop or use the resources highlighted in the article to create personalized trainings.

This article describes the mental health challenges teen moms face and highlights a Denver-based program that integrates mental health screening and treatment into their existing medical care.

As described in this NCFY article, this toolkit teaches young parents how to interact with children who have had traumatic experiences and addresses important aspects of child development and parenting, such as attachment, teaching emotional regulation, and repairing mistakes.