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Federal Resources
Small-Picture Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Four Things to Do When Teen Birth Rates Don’t Decline
This article provides ideas for things youth programs do to keep up the positive momentum when an increase in teen pregnancy rates is experienced, despite a national decline.
Toolkit to Incorporate Adolescent Relationship Abuse Prevention Into Existing Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Programming
Developed by the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program’s Training and Technical Assistance and Meeting Logistical Support project for the Family and Youth Services Bureau, this toolkit can help educators and youth workers integrate relationship violence prevention into their existing adolescent pregnancy prevention programming.
Voices from the Field: LGBT-Friendly Teen Pregnancy Prevention
This podcast by the National Clearinghouse on Youth and Families (NCFY) features program coordinator at the Bristol HUB Youth Center in Vermont, Ryan Krushenick, who leads a popular teen pregnancy prevention curriculum tailored to be welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. He talks to NCFY how to practice inclusive teen pregnancy prevention work.
What Factors Predict Whether Youth Will Run Away or Become Homeless Again After Returning Home?
This article highlights a recent longitudinal study, conducted by researchers at The Ohio State University and featured in the Journal of Adolescence, that examined what factors might predict which youth who abuse substances may run away more than once. The youth surveyed who said they ran away or were homeless at least once more since returning home from the shelter (64%) reported more frequent substance use and a weaker sense of family cohesion than did youth who did not leave home again.
Youth as Advocates for Change
This podcast from the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth features Forrest Vest, a formerly homeless youth, discussing how he is working with a family friend to start a new foundation and how youth can be powerful advocates for change.
Six Questions to Identify Youth at Highest Risk of Long-Term Homelessness
This article describes the Transition Age Youth triage tool, a new questionnaire to determine which youth are most at risk of long-term homelessness without intervention. The tool uses a welcoming, conversational tone to assess for six experiences that are strongly linked to long-term homelessness. The tool can be used in tandem with case management meetings and assessments to develop a service plan, as well as supportive housing.
Q&A: How to Help Homeless Youth Quit Smoking
This Q&A with Joan Tucker, the senior behavioral scientist and professor at Pardee RAND Graduate School in Santa Monica, California, focuses on Dr. Tucker’s work on smoking among homeless youth and her recommendations for what tailored cessation programs might look like.
Investigating How to Help Urban Minority Teens 'Co-Parent'
This article describes a pilot program in which researchers examined if Family Foundations, an evidence-based program designed to help adult parents of young children "co-parent," could be tailored for low income, urban minority teen mothers and the fathers. The article highlights the authors' main observations about the successes and challenges of the pilot and takeaways for organizations that serve teen parents.
Testimony at Interagency Council on Homelessness Meeting
The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, leaders in youth homelessness prevention and intervention advocated for youth-centered, culturally-responsive services. They also stated that programs should be trauma informed, cater to the unique needs of special populations of youth, and allow youth to access services even if they are still actively engaged in substance use.
Curriculum: Updated Runaway Prevention Intervention
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.
Guidance: Education Department Reiterates — Title I Funding Can Be Used to Serve Homeless Students
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.
Research: Does Sexual Orientation Affect Teen Pregnancy Risk?
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.
Resource: 5 Ways to Serve Traveling Street Youth
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.
Report: Street Outreach Program Data Collection Study
This report presents data on service utilization and needs from a subset of homeless street youth being served by a cohort of Street Outreach Program grantees funded in fiscal year 2010 (data collection occurred in 2013). The goal was to learn about the needs of street youth from their perspective, to better understand which services youth found helpful or not helpful, and to identify alternative services they felt could be useful to them. A recent blog post shares the steps the current administration has taken to prevent and end homelessness, and features a new public service announcement campaign targeted at runaway and homeless youth.
Resource: Help Me Succeed: A Guide for Supporting Youth in Foster Care to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
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.
Opportunity for Involvement: FYSB Grant Reviewers
This request for reviewers invites qualified applicants to serve as grant reviewers for a range of FYSB programs benefiting youth and families.
Resource: Apps Help Prevent Teen Pregnancy and Promote Youth Sexual Health
This slideshow highlights six free apps that can help youth avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Report: Family and Youth Services Bureau Highlights in 2014 & 2015
This report shares FYSB’s key accomplishments over the past two years specifically related to ending youth homelessness, domestic violence, and teen pregnancy.
Share with Youth: Apps Promote Youth Sexual Health
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.
Resource: Addressing the Legal Needs of Homeless Youth
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.
Resource: How Does Talking to Extended Family Influence Teens' Decisions About Sex?
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.
Resource: Six Subjects to Prepare Youth for Adulthood
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.
Resource: Running Away from Foster Care
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.
Report: National Trends on Youth in Crisis
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.
Resource: Mindfulness Classes Help Homeless Youth Understand, Regulate Emotions and Behaviors
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.