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- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Whole Grain Resource for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs
This resource outlines the whole grain-rich criteria for school meals in order to help program operators identify foods that meet the whole grain-rich criteria and offer them in their menus.
When Schools Improve Meals, Positive Results Follow
This blog entry from the Department of Agriculture discusses schools’ progress in complying with the school meal nutrition standards updated last year and the benefits that are already being seen as a result of the changes, including a decline in childhood obesity and an increase in children’s levels of physical activity and healthy eating habits.
Serving More Summer Meals in Rural and Tribal Areas
The challenge of summer hunger is particularly great in rural areas and Indian Country, where 15% of households are food insecure. This blog post describes how USDA’s Summer Food Service Program is addressing this issue.
Check Out My Plate Video Search Winning Entries Announced
The CheckOut MyPlate Video Search contest provided an opportunity for kids to showcase their creative thoughts and ideas about food and health. Parents and teachers were challenged to create a 60-second video demonstrating a MyPlate inspired healthy eating message and a physical activity tip. The contest drew more than 100 submissions from across the country, and the top winners from each age group are featured on the USDA website.
Stop Summer Hunger
To help prevent summer hunger, USDA partners with schools, local governments, and community organizations to provide free meals to children during the summer. Individuals and organizations interested in being Summer Meal champions in their community can use USDA’s Summer Meals Toolkit to get the word out, learn about program policy and administration, and develop ideas for collaborating with stakeholders.
Share with Youth: Body Weight Planner
USDA and NIH developed the Body Weight Planner, an interactive online tool that allows individuals who are trying to lose or gain weight see how they need to change their eating or physical activity levels to meet their goals. Users enter their age, weight, height, physical activity level, gender, and weight goal for personalized results. Users can also track their progress and receive periodic updates on how their progress matches up to their goals.
Blog: Reaching and Educating Minority Teen Mothers Online with eBaby4U
This blog post describes eBaby4U, a digital program designed specifically to inform and support African-American teen mothers as they care for their babies.
Resource: Summer Meals
This resource kit is designed to be used by summer meal site operators to teach kids and families about healthy habits. It uses music, games, art, and movement to motivate kids and families to make healthy food and drink choices, exercise, and limit screen time.
Resource: Federal Food Assistance
This webpage features English- and Spanish-language resource guides to help connect food insecure families to food assistance resources.
Resource: Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness
This clearinghouse helps providers identify, select, and implement evidence-based programs and practices to address wide-ranging family and mental health issues. The searchable database includes effective and promising intervention programs as well as resources and strategies to ensure the welfare of military families.
Report: Expenditures on Children by Families, 2015
This report presents the most recent estimates of expenditures by families on children annually across childhood and adolescence. The report indicates that a middle-income married-couple family will spend between $12,350 and $13,900 annually, or $233,610 from birth through age 17, on child-rearing expenses.
Resource: Summer Food Service Program
This website provides information on the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which provides nutritious meals to low-income children when school is not in session. Local organizations can use this website to learn how to be a part of the program. Families can use the search tool to find local sites serving meals.
Military Youth on the Move
This site helps military youth cope with a deployment or move.
Online Community for Children of Military Families
MilitaryKidsConnect.org, a Department of Defense-sponsored website, features content for children, tweens, and teens of military families. The site provides an online community that allows these young people to support one another while learning coping and resilience-building skills
Resource: Helping Military Parents Keep their Children Safe
This website provides information on the Safe and Sound Campaign to connect military parents, service providers, and leaders to resources on parenting skills and child abuse and neglect prevention.
American Red Cross and FEMA: Helping Children Cope with Disaster
This booklet was created to assist parents and caregivers in helping youth cope with disasters and emergencies. The guide also provides information on preparing family emergency plans and discussing these plans with youth.
A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety
The U.S. Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Investigation has created a pamphlet, which is designed to help parents, teachers, and providers begin to understand the complexities of on-line child exploitation.
Aftercare Services
This Bulletin examines aftercare services that provide youth with comprehensive health, mental health, education, family, and vocational services upon their release from the juvenile justice system.
Bureau of Justice Assistance Training and Technical Assistance
This resource provides technical assistance to practitioners in state, local, and tribal justice systems.
Juvenile Justice Journal, Vol. VII, No. 1 (Mental Health Issue)
This issue discusses incarcerated youth with mental health issues, including challenges and solutions.
OJJDP Safe Start Center
The Safe Start communities are funded competitively through OJJDP, and work to coordinate the efforts of service providers in key areas, such as early childhood education, health, child welfare, substance abuse prevention and intervention, domestic violence, law enforcement, and the courts to address the needs of children exposed to violence.
PTSD, Trauma, and Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders in Detained Youth
Developed by the Department of Justice as part of the ongoing Beyond Detention series, this bulletin analyzes data from the Northwestern Juvenile project, a longitudinal study of youth detained at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago. The prevalence of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) seen among the juveniles studied is discussed, as well as the tendency for PTSD and other psychiatric disorders to co-occur in this population.
Special Education and the Juvenile Justice System
The Bulletin summarizes the provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and analyzes their relevance to the juvenile justice process-from intake and initial interview to institutional placement and secure confinement.
The Northwestern Juvenile Project: Overview
This bulletin provides an overview of the Northwestern Juvenile Project, the first large-scale, prospective longitudinal study of drug, alcohol, and psychiatric disorders in a diverse sample of juvenile detainees.
Child Trauma and its Effects: Implications for Police
This article describes child trauma and the negative impact it can have on development, and the implications this has for police, especially for those working in poor communities of color. The article also suggests police be trained on the high prevalence of severe childhood trauma in such communities, its effects on the developing child, and its impact on adolescent and adult functioning to increase their capacity to address this major public mental health issue.