Federal Resources

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.

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 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 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

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.

Developed by the Department of Health and Human Services' National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth, this guide provides information for adults and teens interested in starting a youth-serving non-profit. The guide walks users through four distinct stages, each including interactive videos and helpful tools.

“Logic Models and Theory of Change” is a new, free online course from NCFY that walks users through the basics of each model while presenting examples from the field. This training can help staff working for family and youth-serving agencies make plans to establish a new program or update an existing one. 

The NCFY Library is a searchable database, curated and managed by a librarian, which contains abstracts, or summaries, of more than 20,000 publications related to FYSB’s programmatic areas of youth homelessness, adolescent pregnancy prevention, and family violence prevention and services

The National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth spoke with Alicia Wilson-Ahlstrom, a lead author of the report, From Soft Skills to Hard Data, to learn more about how to choose the right outcome-measurement tool for a youth program.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth features a Q&A with the executive director of a youth-serving group in which he discusses steps organizations can take to develop good relationships in the community.

This collection of articles highlights how using creative approaches like art and other forms of self-expression can enhance work with young people, as well as steps that youth-serving organizations can take to nurture creativity among staff. 

This article provides insights about how social services organizations can ensure that services to young people continue to be delivered seamlessly after a longtime source of support is no longer available

This course, from the University of Wisconsin Extension, provides a holistic approach to planning and evaluating education and outreach programs. It helps program practitioners use and apply logic models - a framework and way of thinking to help us improve our work and be accountable for results. You will learn what a logic model is and how to use one for planning, implementation, evaluation or communicating about your program.