Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
Children of Incarcerated Parents – Fact Sheet
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2007, an estimated 1.7 million children under the age of 18 had a parent in prison, an increase of almost 80 percent since 1991. The negative consequences for children with an incarcerated parent can be substantial, including financial instability, changes in family structure, shame, and social stigma. However, research also shows that supporting healthy and positive relationships between these vulnerable children, who are the innocent bystanders of adult decisions, and their families has the potential to mitigate negative outcomes.
An interagency group, that includes the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Agriculture as well as the Social Security Administration, has partnered with stakeholders both inside and outside of government to identify opportunities to support these children and their caregivers. This fact sheet describes the efforts of the interagency group.
Choice Neighborhoods
The Choice Neighborhoods initiative will transform distressed neighborhoods and public and assisted projects into viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods by linking housing improvements with appropriate services, schools, public assets, transportation, and access to jobs. A strong emphasis will be placed on local community planning for access to high-quality educational opportunities, including early childhood education. In addition to public housing authorities, the initiative will involve local governments, non-profits, and for-profit developers in undertaking comprehensive local planning with residents and the community.
Database for Finding Better Schools
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has partnered with GreatSchools, a national nonprofit educational resource for parents, to provide an online database that can assist parents in choosing a school for their child. The database contains more than 200,000 public, charter, magnet, and private schools, serving grades K-12 across the country.
Neighborhood Networks
HUD created Neighborhood Networks in 1995 to encourage property owners to establish multiservice community learning centers in HUD insured and assisted properties. Neighborhood Networks was one of the first federal initiatives to promote self-sufficiency and help provide computer access to low-income housing communities. Neighborhood Networks centers are alike. With support from innovative public-private partnerships, Neighborhood Networks centers sponsor a range of services and programs. Nearly all centers offer job training and educational opportunities, and many also provide programs that include access to healthcare information and microenterprise development.
Toolkit: Every Student, Every Day: A National Initiative to Address and Eliminate Chronic Absenteeism
The Every Student, Every Day: A Community Toolkit to Address and Eliminate Chronic Absenteeism (PDF, 69 pages) toolkit provides information, suggested action steps, and lists of existing tools and resources for individuals, leaders, and systems to begin, or enhance the work of, effective, coordinated community action to address and eliminate chronic absenteeism.
Resource: Federal Guidance to Support Completion and Success in Higher Education
This fact sheet describes a joint commitment from multiple federal departments to align supports and program delivery to promote college access and completion. The guidance will support colleges and universities in their efforts to expand college opportunity.
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.
Bullying, Sexual, and Dating Violence Trajectories From Early to Late Adolescence
This report describes a longitudinal study of 1,162 high school students that examined the impact of family abuse and conflict, self-reported delinquency, and peer delinquency on the development of bullying perpetration, sexual harassment perpetration, and teen dating violence perpetration.
Children in Foster Care with Parents in Federal Prison: A Toolkit for Child Welfare Agencies, Federal Prisons, and Residential Reentry Centers
Roughly 10% of incarcerated mothers in state prison have a child in a foster home or other state care. Some estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 8 children who are subjects of reports of maltreatment and investigated by child welfare agencies have parents who were recently arrested. Though there is clearly overlap between the prison system and the child welfare system, it is often difficult for prison officials to know how to help incarcerated parents stay in touch with their children in foster care and work towards reunification. Similarly, it is difficult for child welfare agencies to know how to engage parents in prison. The purpose of this toolkit is to help facilitate communication and cooperation between child welfare agencies and federal prisons so that parents can stay engaged in their children's lives.
Cultivating Evaluation Capacity: A Guide for Programs Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence
Cultivating Evaluation Capacity: A Guide for Programs Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence (PDF, 58 pages) helps programs that serve survivors of domestic and/or sexual violence assess their evaluation capacity and identify areas of strength, as well as areas for improvement.
Curriculum for Training Educators of Youth in Confinement
To help teachers address issues surrounding youth in confinement, the National Juvenile Detention Association's Center for Research and Professional Development (CRPD) has developed a National Training Curriculum for Educators of Youth in Confinement Facilities (Educator's Curriculum). Topics addressed include behavioral development, mental health, and assessment.
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons protects society by confining offenders in the controlled environments of prisons and community-based facilities that are safe, humane, cost-efficient, and appropriately secure, and that provide work and other self-improvement opportunities to assist offenders in becoming law-abiding citizens.
From the Courthouse to the Schoolhouse: Making Successful Transitions
This bulletin describes effective approaches to reintegrating youth from juvenile justice system settings into the education mainstream and provides information about promising programs, practices, and resources.
Gang Resistance and Education Program
The G.R.E.A.T. Program is a school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curriculum. With prevention as its primary objective, the program is intended as an immunization against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership.
Findings from the National Evaluation of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative
This report presents the findings from a national cross-site evaluation of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, a collaboration by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Justice that aims to help students feel safe at school, avoid drug use and violence, and access mental health services.
Guidance on Voluntary use of Race to Achieve Diversity in a Postsecondary Education
The United States Department of Education (ED) and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) collectively issues a guidance to explain how, within existing law, postsecondary institutions can voluntarily consider race to achieve diversity.
Guidance on Voluntary use of Race to Achieve Diversity and Avoid Racial Isolation in Elementary and Secondary Schools
The United States Department of Education (ED) and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) collectively issued this guidance to explain how, within existing law, elementary and secondary schools can voluntarily consider race to achieve diversity and avoid racial isolation.
Guidance from the Departments of Education and Justice on Equitable Educational Access for English Learner Students
The Departments of Education and Justice released joint guidance (PDF, 40 pages) reminding states, school districts, and schools of their obligations under federal law to ensure that English learner students have equal access to a high-quality education and the opportunity to achieve their full academic potential. Resources accompanying the guidance include:
- A fact sheet in English (PDF, 4 pages) and in other languages about schools’ obligations under federal law to ensure that English learner students can participate meaningfully and equally in school
- A fact sheet in English (PDF, 2 pages) and in other languages about schools’ obligations under federal law to communicate information to limited English proficient parents in a language they can understand
- A toolkit (PDF, 11 pages) to help school districts identify English learner students, prepared by the Education Department’s Office of English Language Acquisition. This is the first chapter in a series of chapters to help state education agencies and school districts meet their obligations to English learner students
Juvenile Correctional Education: A Time for Change
This bulletin discusses the latest and most effective practices in juvenile correctional education.
Improving Literacy Skills of Juvenile Detainees
This bulletin describes innovative, phonics-based programs that have proven successful in combating functional illiteracy and its adverse aftermath within our juvenile corrections system.
Juvenile Mentoring Program: A Progress Review
This Bulletin lists the parameters under which the current 164 JUMP projects operate and describes the scope and methodology of the Juvenile Mentoring Program's ongoing national evaluation.
Juvenile Mentoring Program: 1998 Report to Congress
This 1998 Report to Congress describes the initial stages of OJJDP's ongoing evaluation of the 93 projects funded under the Juvenile Mentoring Program and includes its preliminary findings.
Make a Friend-Be a Peer Mentor
This Bulletin explains to youth how peer mentoring works, how to become a peer mentor, and how to create and maintain a strong peer mentor network.
Mentoring-A Proven Delinquency Prevention Strategy
This Bulletin discusses federally-supported mentoring intiatives, such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and how mentoring has changed in response to evaluations.
Model Programs Guide
The Model Programs Guide (MPG) is designed to assist practitioners and communities in implementing evidence-based prevention and intervention programs that can make a difference in the lives of children and communities. The MPG database of evidence-based programs covers the entire continuum of youth services from prevention through sanctions to reentry. The MPG is a tool that offers a database of scientifically-proven programs that address a range of issues, including substance abuse, mental health, and education programs.