Tools & Guides

This toolkit provides resources and messaging for youth and professional audiences about ACF’s Resources for Youth Transitioning to Adulthood collection. Messaging in the toolkit can be shared with agencies, schools, youth groups, or community centers to feature on their social media pages, websites, and newsletters. Learn more.  ...

This guide (PDF, 90 pages) helps researchers examine implementation when studying the effectiveness of education interventions to improve student outcomes. The guide provides recommendations and specific steps on planning, collecting, analyzing, and reporting essential data related to intervention components, implementation fidelity, context, and treatment-control contrast. Learn more.  ...

This webpage describes places and types of work that are off-limits for young people under 18, according to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Examples include:  Meat processing and slicing  Power-driven saws  Roofing  Power-driven woodworking machinery  Driving  Compactors and Balers  Explosives  Forklifts and skid-steers  Mining  Logging, forestry and sawmilling  Radioactive material  Power-driven bakery machines  Brick and tile  Working with metal  Trenching and excavation  Learn more.  ...

This guide (PDF, 58 pages) assists colleges and universities in mitigating barriers to accessing high-quality, affordable postsecondary education for currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. Learn more. 

This guide (PDF, 51 pages) describes tools and strategies for implementing a trauma-informed approach (TIA) in behavioral health prevention, treatment, and recovery. This guide highlights the need for organizational assessment of readiness and capacity before implementing TIA and describes strategies for such assessments. Implementation strategies for the following 10 domains ...

This toolkit provides teachers, principals, district staff, and state agencies with evidence-based, high-impact strategies and supportive actions to decrease the negative impacts of poverty on student achievement. The toolkit identifies five high-impact instructional strategies that teachers can implement with the support of their principals. It also includes five recommendations for ...

This toolkit (PDF, 35 pages) discusses challenges and solutions for recruiting and retaining youth in State Advisory Groups, developing mentorship programs, and youth conference/summit planning. This document provides information on increasing engagement with justice impacted communities, youth who are at-risk of involvement in the criminal justice system, Indigenous youth, BIPOC ...

This guide (PDF, 64 pages) discusses the prevalence of suicide among youth, effective treatment programs, implementation considerations and strategies, and examples of the successful use of programs in clinical and community-based settings. Learn more (PDF, 64 pages).   

This toolkit (PDF, 58 pages) offers simple strategies and guidance K-12 schools and school districts can use to implement and enhance safety reporting programs and encourage bystander reporting among students and other members of the school community. It is designed to help school leaders create tailored, customized approaches that meet ...

This guide (PDF, 95 pages) is designed to help families take necessary steps, contact the right people, and know how to move forward when their child is missing. This fifth edition contains checklists with critical information to help parents and caretakers work with law enforcement, the media, search and rescue ...