Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools
The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) administers, coordinates, and recommends policy for improving quality and excellence of programs and activities related to youth safety and drug prevention.
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.
The Challenge
A principal vehicle by which OSDFS communicates with the field, and provides information on research-based activities, best practices, and other information related to effective drug abuse and violence prevention strategies.
The Relationship Between Bullying and Suicide: What We Know and What It Means for Schools
This resource from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, provides school administrators, teachers and school staff with the most current research findings about the relationship between bullying and suicide among school-aged youth and action-oriented, evidence-based suggestions to prevent and control bullying and suicide-related behavior in schools.
Archived Webinar: Preventing Bullying Through Science, Policy, and Practice
This archived webinar presents a briefing on the release of a consensus report on the state of the science on the: 1) biological and psychosocial consequences of peer victimization, and 2) risk and protective factors that either increase or decrease peer victimization behavior and consequences. The report will discuss the next steps needed in the intervention and prevention of bullying to help inform policy, practice, and future research on promising approaches to reduce peer victimization, particularly for the most at-risk populations.
Resource: Bullying Prevention in Indian Country
This fact sheet describes the specific bullying prevention needs of American Indian and Alaska Native communities and highlights effective school-based anti-bullying prevention strategies for this population. Developed by SAMHSA’s Tribal Training and Technical Assistance Center, school professionals who work with youth in Indian Country can use this fact sheet to prevent, address, and respond to bullying through culture-based interventions.
Report: Student Victimization in U.S. Schools: Results from the 2015 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey
This report examines student criminal victimization and the characteristics of crime victims and nonvictims. It also provides findings on student reports of the presence of gangs and weapons, and the availability of drugs and alcohol at school, student reports of bullying, and fear and avoidance behaviors of crime victims and nonvictims at school.
Action Guide for Emergency Management at Institutions of Higher Education
This guide has been developed to give higher education institutions a useful resource in the field of emergency management.
Emergency Planning for Schools
This website, Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS), provides information that can help school leaders plan for any emergency, including natural disasters, violent incidents and terrorist acts.
Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2011
The Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics and the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics' report, “Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2011,” examines crimes occurring in school and presents data on school safety.
Preventing Youth Violence: Opportunities for Action
This report describes the critical problem of youth violence and provides information and action steps that public health and community leaders, young people, families, caregivers, and other adults that work with youth can take to prevent it.
Teen Action Toolkit: Building a Youth-led Response to Teen Victimization
Developed by COPS and the National Center for Victims of Crime, this resource is hands-on implementation guide for the Teen Action Partnership (TAP) for Teen Victims (PDF, 150 pages) program, which harnesses youth as leaders, in partnership with adults, to transform their communities’ response to teenage victims of crime. The toolkit guides educators, law enforcement personnel, outreach workers, victim service providers, youth workers, and teens through the four phases of TAP for Teen Victims, and includes ideas for activities and reflections.
The Economic Burden of Child Maltreatment in the United States and Implications for Prevention
This report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found the total lifetime estimated financial costs associated with just one year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment is approximately $124 billion.
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.
Archived Webinar: Resettlement in Urban Communities for Refugee Youth
This on-demand webinar features presenters discussing the “double edge sword” that refugee youth may experience after they flee their home country only to be resettled in urban neighborhoods in the United States that have high rates of community violence. Viewers are required to establish a free account with NCTSN to access the presentation.
Resource: Essentials for Childhood Framework: Steps to Create Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships and Environments for All Children
This framework proposes strategies communities can use to promote children and families’ positive development and to prevent child abuse and neglect. It includes four goal areas and suggested steps based on best available evidence to achieve each goal.
Resource: Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE)
This web app provides information and space for practitioners and teams to develop and edit customized youth violence prevention plans and measure progress.
Resource: A Comprehensive Technical Package for the Prevention of Youth Violence and Associated Risk Behaviors
This technical package (PDF, 64 pages) highlights six youth violence prevention strategies that represent the best available evidence on preventing youth violence and its consequences. It also articulates a select set of strategies and approaches to achieve the vision of CDC’s national initiative, Striving To Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere. Communities and states can use this resource to guide and inform decision-making related to youth violence prevention efforts.
Resource: What Parents Need to Know about Sexual Abuse
This resource (PDF, 58 pages) defines sexual abuse, describes steps parent can take if their child discloses sexual abuse, dispels myths about sexual abuse, and details the impact of sexual abuse on children. This compilation of handouts, fact sheets, and questions & answers developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network can help parents and caregivers understand how to protect their children from — and how to help children who have experienced — sexual abuse.
Resource: Preventing Sexual Violence
This webpage highlights federal efforts to prevent sexual violence (SV) on college campuses, information on SV prevention strategies, and CDC’s five-component framework for preventing SV. Higher education professionals and SV practitioners can use this information to plan and implement prevention strategies on college and university campuses.
Resource: When a Child Alleges Sexual Abuse by an Educator or other School Staff: An Educator’s Guide to Appropriate Response and Support
This guide (PDF, 3 pages) describes the role of an educator in responding to disclosures from students about sexual abuse in the school setting. Developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, this guide can help educators understand the responsibility to report abuse and support students, the consequences of inappropriate responses, how to support other students, and how to respond to the media.
Share with Youth: Sexual Assault Resources for Teens and their Parents
These resources, developed by The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, provide information for teens and their parents about sexual assault:
- Teen Sexual Assault: Information for Teens (PDF, 6 pages)
Explains the difference between consent and coercion, addresses common questions and misconceptions about sexual assault; describes how drugs, alcohol, and the internet can interfere with safety; details how teens can protect themselves; and suggests steps teens can take if they are assaulted.
- Teen Sexual Assault: Information for Parents (PDF, 6 pages)
Explains the difference between consent and coercion; addresses common questions and misconceptions about sexual assault; describes how drugs, alcohol, and the internet can play a part in sexual assault; provides tips on how parents can help their teen stay safe; and explains what to do if their teen is assaulted.
Resource: Mass Violence and Behavioral Health
This bulletin (PDF, 18 pages), developed by SAMHSA’s Disaster Technical Assistance Center, describes how mass violence affects the behavioral health of adult, adolescent, and child survivors or witnesses of a mass violence incident. It illustrates the phases of response experienced by survivors, provides information on immediate and long-term interventions, and addresses the effects of media exposure following a mass violence incident. Public health, behavioral health, and emergency management professionals can use this resource to improve disaster behavioral health preparedness plans.
Coping with Grief After Community Violence
This fact sheet provides information on how to cope with grief after an incident of community violence, introduces common signs of grief and anger, and offers tips for helping children deal with grief.
Preventing Teen Dating Violence and Youth Violence Program
Different types of violence are connected and often share the same root causes. CDC’s Preventing Teen Dating and Youth Violence by Addressing Shared Risk and Protective Factors program funds 5 local health departments to engage in primary prevention activities to prevent teen dating violence and youth violence.