Federal Resources

MyMoney.gov is the U.S. government's website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about financial education.

The Challenge is an initiative designed to engage educators in the teaching of personal finance and to increase the financial knowledge and capability of high school aged youth so they can take control of their financial futures.

Tax season provides an opportunity to teach young people about the concepts of taxation. The IRS website offers resources that teachers in middle and high schools and community colleges can use to help students better understand the “hows” and “whys” of taxes. 

ED, Treasury, and CFPB issued a Joint Statement of Principles on Student Loan Servicing. This document serves as a guiding statement to improve student loan servicing practices, promote borrower success, and minimize defaults. 

This report describes the state of financial education (PDF, 48 pages) among students and illustrates current efforts to enhance financial education with respect to student understanding of topics related to financing postsecondary education and making sound financial decisions while enrolled in school and beyond. The report also identifies programs that promote or enhance financial literacy for students, including those that involve partnerships between nonprofit organizations. 

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. 

Summer is a time for having fun outdoors, but teens must be aware of sun safety and air quality in order to avoid injury and aggravating chronic conditions. These federal resources can help young people — and the adults who work with them — stay safe while enjoying the summer months:

• The Environmental Protection Agency’s ultraviolet (UV) index forecasts can help users prepare for, and avoid excess, UV exposure.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Sun Safety for America’s Youth Toolkit has sun-safe policies for community programs.
• Use Airnow.gov to track local air quality and prepare accordingly for outdoor activities for youth with asthma.

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. 

This website allows users to contact and participate in peer-to-peer learning and sharing with school districts in their area that have earned the distinction of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) champions by the EPA for their achievements in improving IAQ. 

This archived webinar series features four hour-long technical web-based trainings that address how to improve or sustain indoor air quality (IAQ) management programs within schools or school districts. School professionals can use this training to learn about the implementation of a successful framework for IAQ management, critical actions needed to address building-related environmental health, and the use of tools in the School IAQ Assessment Mobile App to identify and prioritize IAQ improvements. 

This toolkit helps school officials responsible for the maintenance and/or safety of schools’ drinking water implement prevention programs for lead in drinking water. The toolkit introduces the 3Ts for an approach to reducing lead in drinking water: training, testing, and telling. 

The Board on Children, Youth, and Families (BCYF) addresses a variety of policy-relevant issues related to the health and development of children, youth, and families. It does so by convening experts to weigh in on matters from the perspective of the behavioral, social, and health sciences.

Mental health and substance use disorders among children, youth, and young adults are major threats to the health and well-being of younger populations which often carryover into adulthood. The costs of treatment for mental health and addictive disorders, which create an enormous burden on the affected individuals, their families, and society, have stimulated increasing interest in prevention practices that can impede the onset or reduce the severity of the disorders. Prevention practices have emerged in a variety of settings, including programs for selected at-risk populations (such as children and youth in the child welfare system), school-based interventions, interventions in primary care settings, and community services designed to address a broad array of mental health needs and populations. Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People updates a 1994 Institute of Medicine book, Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders, focusing special attention on the research base and program experience with younger populations that have emerged since that time.