Federal Resources

Edwin Gould Services for Children and Families, a New York City-based program, is one of three programs chosen to participate in a two-year demonstration project aimed at helping victims of severe trafficking. In this article, a representative from the organization discusses the project’s goals and wider efforts to combat trafficking in New York. 

Having a GED instead of a high school diploma, difficulty getting parental permission, lack of a GPA, and incomplete transcripts can all be obstacles that homeless students can face when seeking scholarship funding. In this blog post, Cyekeia Lee, director of higher education initiatives at the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, shares strategies for youth-serving professionals who are helping students navigate the scholarship application process. 

Eligibility: Youth aged 16 to 22 who are unable to return to their homes
Focus: Life skills training

Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs that serve transition-age youth include the Transitional Living Program and the Maternity Group Homes Program.

The Transitional Living Program for Older Homeless Youth promotes the independence of youth between 16 and 22 years old who are unable to return to their homes. Grantees provide housing and a range of services, including life skills training, financial literacy instruction, and education and employment services. Youth might live in group homes or in their own apartments, depending on the program and each young person's independent living skills.

The Maternity Group Homes Program, part of the Transitional Living Program, supports homeless pregnant and/or parenting young people between the ages of 16 and 22, as well as their dependent children. Services are provided for up to 21 months.

This blog entry from the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau, contains tips from staff of the William T. Grant Foundation on applying for local and regional funding.

This article highlighs a series of tip sheets, developed by the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, which is divided into five sections which each address a different aspect of attempting to help keep homeless youth in school, including information on McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program, easing homeless youths’ paths to college, and helping homeless youth access basic services

Many young people who have arrests on their record may have difficulty obtaining a job or securing housing. In this blog post, a lawyer provides advice for youth-serving professionals who help their clients move on by clearing their arrest records.

This article from the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth highlights the work of Tulane’s Drop-In Clinic, which provides free medical care to teens in New Orleans. It shares some of the best practices that have helped the clinic successfully reduce barriers and connect youth to care. 

This booklet provides youth workers with an overview of the issue of human trafficking as well as concrete information about how to help survivors. Information about populations of youth that may be more at risk for trafficking, signs of sexual exploitation, tips for providing appropriate supports and services to survivors, and suggestions for when to involve the victim’s family and the police are included.

This report series from the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth provides an overview on substance abuse in youth and young adults. Find information on how drug use can affect the teen brain, how the development of the teen brain makes young people susceptible to trying drugs, the benefits and things to be aware of when hiring youth workers in substance abuse recovery, and some best-known evidence-based practices for treating adolescent substance abuse. 

This article provides tips for youth workers on recognizing youth who may be survivors of sexual exploitation. The article notes that many youth will seek services for other issues and, if made to feel comfortable, will divulge their experience with trafficking. The article recommends that youth workers have the knowledge to recognize the signs of trafficking, go appropriately off-script in their interactions with youth if they suspect trafficking is taking place, and maintain a non-judgmental stance when speaking with youth to build trust.

This podcast from the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth describes the work of a nonprofit organization that uses a tool called community mapping to help young people understand the assets and deficits that exist in their communities

The Family and Youth Services Bureau's Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program created “Creating a Safe Space for LGBTQ Teens," a free online course (requires login) designed to inform those who deliver teen pregnancy prevention programming. The course will help professionals understand key terms related to gender and sexual identity, the challenges that LGBTQ youth face and the importance of including them in prevention messages about teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and key strategies for creating safe spaces and classrooms for LGBTQ youth. 

This article from the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth features a Q&A with a representative from the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) who discusses the organization’s research on the demand for prostitution and how youth-serving professionals can use the curriculum developed by CAASE to encourage young men to take a stand against sexual exploitation. 

This series of articles from the Department of Health and Human Services, Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth, articulates the FYSB’s position on implementing evidence-based practices in youth programming, provides the perspective of an FYSB grantee on implementing an evidence-based program, and discusses working with researchers to illustrate the effectiveness of programs.

This website developed by FYSB illustrates how the programs operated through the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act help to meet the needs of homeless youth and young adults and contribute to the goal of ending youth homelessness by 2020. It also provides information on the issue of youth homelessness and ways users can contribute to the efforts to end homelessness among youth. 

A report from America’s Promise Alliance encourages readers to think differently about youth who have left school, suggesting a change in terminology, from “dropouts” to “nongraduates” or students who have had “interrupted enrollment.” As this article explains, youth voices are featured prominently in the report, which also highlights factors that influence students to leave school and the supports that can help them to return to and remain in school. 

In this article, Graham Bowman, an Equal Justice Works fellow at The Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, offers advice on encouraging and helping runaway and homeless youth to apply for Medicaid. 

This article features a Q&A with professor and researcher Natasha Slesnick about the work she and her colleagues are doing to understand what evidence-based treatments might be effective in working with homeless youth.  

FYSB supports the organizations and communities that work every day to reduce the risk of youth homelessness, adolescent pregnancy and domestic violence. Learn more about FYSB programs.

Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) provides news and resources related to issues such as homelessness, adolescent pregnancy, and domestic violence. Watch FYSB's new video “The Family and Youth Services Bureau — Join Us” to learn more about FYSB work and programs.

This blog post addresses the unique challenges of serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in rural places. Written by the executive director of Tumbleweed Runaway Program in Billings, MT, it also suggests how youth-serving professionals in rural areas can make their services and communities welcoming to all young people.

This slideshow presents tips for youth-serving organizations on how they can improve the health of the at-risk youth they work with. Ideas include partnering with local farms to receive fresh vegetables and offering classes for physical and mental health.

This blog post from the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth links to multiple resources that can help youth-serving programs understand how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) affects youth, including homeless and runaway youth. The post also provides some of the highlights from a recent webinar that discussed what youth and youth workers need to know about the ACA. 

This slideshow presents ways in which youth workers can support and promote the education and employment of youth. Tips include becoming familiar with education rights, preventing bullying, helping young people explore job interests, and more. 

This slideshow, developed by the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth, highlights five groups of teens that sexual health educators should include in pregnancy prevention efforts. The list includes young men, teen moms, rural youth, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning) youth, and teens living in areas where pregnancy rates have declined.