Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Parents’ Influence on the Health of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Teens: What Parents and Families Should Know
CDC’s DASH developed the factsheet, “Parents’ Influence on the Health of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Teens: What Parents and Families Should Know," which provides information for parents on how they can support and promote healthy outcomes for their LGTBQ teens.
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.
Slideshow: 5 Collaborations to Ensure Trauma-Informed Care for Youth and Families
This slideshow highlights five types of professionals that runaway and homeless youth program managers can collaborate with to support youth who have experienced trauma.
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 Resources to Support and Empower Teen Parent Slideshow
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.
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.
Resource: Narrative Writing Exercises for Promoting Health Among Adolescents: Promises and Pitfalls
This resource describes a literature review that explores the potential mental health benefits and concerns of using narrative writing with youth and young adults.
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: 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.
Resource: Helping Youth Prevent Suicide Among Their LGBTQ Peers
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.
Resource: Integrating Medical and Mental Health Care for Teen Moms
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.
Resource: 1-2-3 Care: A Trauma-Sensitive Toolkit for Caregivers of Children
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.
Resource: Youth-Friendly Manual Shows New Fathers the Ropes
This NCFY article highlights a manual (PDF, 28 pages) that uses driving and car analogies and youth-friendly language to teach teen dads and expectant dads about topics such as establishing paternity, what to expect when the baby comes home, caring for the baby, and co-parenting.
Public -Private Partnership Launches New AmeriCorps Program to Help Communities Build Resilience
CNCS, DOE, EPA, NOAA, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Cities of Service announced a new commitment to launch the Resilience AmeriCorps pilot program. Resilience AmeriCorps will help communities plan and implement efforts necessary to become more resilient to shocks and stresses, including extreme weather and other impacts of climate change. AmeriCorps VISTA members will serve in up to 12 communities in 2015-2016 to support the development of resilience strategies.
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.
A Guide to School Vulnerability Assessment Key: Principles for Safe Schools
This guide is a companion piece to the Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and Communities (above). It emphasizes a valuable part of emergency management planning—ongoing vulnerability assessment—and is intended to assist schools with the selection and implementation of an effective vulnerability assessment tool.
ED Office of Safe and Healthy Students Emergency Planning Website
The U.S. Department of Education (ED)'s Office of Safe and Healthy Students' (OSHS) Center for School Preparedness provides support, resources, grants, and training to support emergency management efforts for local educational agencies and institutions of higher education.
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.
Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and Communities
Taking action now can save lives, prevent injury, and minimize property damage in the moments of a crisis. Practical Information on Crisis Planning: A Guide for Schools and Communities is designed to help navigate the process of reviewing and revising school and district plans. The guide is intended to give schools, districts, and communities the critical concepts and components of good crisis planning, stimulate thinking about the crisis preparedness process, and provide examples of promising practices.
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.
REMS TA Center Introduces New Tools for School Emergency Planning
The REMS TA Center has created new, interactive tools that can assist schools, school districts, and institutions of higher education (IHEs) in assessing their knowledge of emergency management, and in creating and evaluating emergency operations plans (EOPs):
- EOP ASSESS: This tool guides users through a series of questions to assess understanding of elements critical to creating and maintaining a high-quality EOP
- EOP ASSIST: This tool, offered as a web-accessible software application, directs users through a six-step planning process that will result in the output of an EOP, developed according to the federal guidelines.
- EOP EVALUATE: This tool can help schools and IHEs evaluate an established EOP to determine whether there are areas where it can be adjusted and improved.
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.