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- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Upcoming Event: November is National Adoption Month
This observance aims to increase national awareness of the need for permanent families for children and youth in the foster care system. This year’s theme, “We Never Outgrow the Need for Family—Just Ask Us,” reflects a focus on the importance of identifying permanent families for the thousands of 15- to 18-year-olds in foster care who are currently less likely to be adopted or who may age out of the system without a stable home. A new tip sheet, Talking with Older Youth About Adoption (PDF, 2 pages) provides child welfare professionals with a framework for how to talk with older youth about permanency and includes suggestions for how to make these conversations more effective.
College Preparation Checklist
This resource can help students of all ages to prepare academically and financially for education beyond high school (PDF, 28 pages). It provides an overview of options for financial aid for college, and checklists for students and parents to reference at each stage of a student’s education.
Share With Youth: Budgeting for College
ED’s Office of Federal Student Aid reminds students about the importance of budgeting to achieve future financial goals and prepare for unexpected bumps in the road.
Share with Youth: FAFSA Overview
The Office of Federal Student Aid at the Department of Education provides an overview of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA takes about 30 minutes to complete, is free, and provides students access to grants, loans, and work-study funds from the federal government.
Share with Youth: Types of Federal Student Aid
The Office of Federal Student Aid offers more than $150 billion to students each year in the form of grants, loans, and work-study funds. While some colleges can also offer private student loans, federal loans often have lower fixed interest rates and other benefits.
Share with Youth: After the FAFSA — What Happens Next
This Office of Federal Student Aid video explains what happens after students complete and submit their FAFSA. The U.S. Department of Education will process the application and indicated colleges will be notified. Students will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) and can check their student aid status online.
Resource: Program-Level Gainful Employment Earnings Data
This data set provides information on program-level outcomes of college students preparing for gainful employment that can be used by prospective students and their families to weigh their options. Overall, the data show graduates of career training programs at public institutions generally fare better than those of comparable programs at for-profit colleges, earning higher salaries and being more prepared to enter higher earning fields.
Report: National Student Loan FY 2014 Cohort Default Rate
These data describe the FY 2014 cohort student loan default rate, which increased slightly from 11.3% to 11.5% for students who entered repayment between fiscal years 2013 and 2014. During the tracking period, more than five million borrowers entered repayment and 580,671 of them defaulted on their loans.
Resource: Digital and Social Media Financial Aid Collateral
This website provides digital and social media resources to help teachers and counselors share important federal student aid information with students and parents. It features sample social media posts, messaging guidelines, blog posts, infographics, presentations, videos, and fact sheets on a variety of financial aid topics.
Grants.gov
Grants.gov is a secure, reliable entry way to discretionary federal grants from multiple agencies. Applicants can use a single comprehensive site to discover and apply for opportunities from all 26 federal grant-making agencies.
Internet Safety: 2014 Resource Guide
This guide features short descriptions and links to multiple organizations, programs, publications, tools, and other resources related to internet safety, as well as subtopics like cyberbullying, sexting, self-harm, and suicide.
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.
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.
Report: E-cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General
This report is the first to be issued by a federal agency that comprehensively reviews the public health issue of electronic cigarettes and their impact on young people. Using evidence gathered from studies that included young adolescents, adolescents, and young adults, this report confirms there is no acceptable level of nicotine when it comes to these populations and the aerosol from e-cigarettes is not harmless. The report website also offers tools for parents and a public service announcement.
Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Spotlight on Opioids
This report provides the latest data on the prevalence of substance use, opioid misuse, opioid use disorders, opioid overdoses, and related harms. It also addresses prevention, treatment, and management of opioid use disorders and the progress to address the opioid epidemic.
Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Toolkit
Rural Development is committed to helping faith and community organizations learn about and access programs that can enhance their capacity to serve their community. This toolkit offers a one-stop shop for organizations interested in applying for Rural Development programs and includes supplemental resources, legal guidance for faith and community groups and contact information for the Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Office and liaisons at USDA
Rural Development State Offices
This site provides contact information for Rural Development State Offices.
Rural Development Funding Notices
This site provides funding notices for Rural Development programs and grants.