Announcements

This free training package assists K-12 educators and school staff in supporting the mental health of students in the classroom. This package offers evidence-based strategies and skills to engage and support students experiencing adversity and distress. The training includes a free, self-paced online course on mental health literacy for educators and school staff, a video library, an implementation guide, and supplemental resources. Learn more. 

This resource (PDF, 4 pages) outlines how child welfare agencies can use federal funds to support the provision of services, interventions, and supports to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQIA2S+) children, youth, young adults, and their caregivers. This resource also discusses ways to support training for the child welfare workforce, and foster and adoptive parents. Learn more. 

This lesson plan helps teens identify and use resources that provide high-quality health information. High school students will describe how various sources of information (e.g., family, friends, peers, schools, culture, social media, news media) influence their personal health behaviors. Activities, discussion prompts, worksheets, and support materials are provided. Learn more. 

This teacher’s guide outlines a lesson in which students will watch videos and learn answers to teens’ top questions about drug use and addiction. Instructions for using the lesson, writing prompts, and support materials are provided. Learn more. 

This webpage contains National Hispanic Heritage Month resources and data focused on advancing better health through better understanding for Hispanic/Latino Americans. Resources include: 

• Graphics and social media  

• A reading list focused on health literacy, barriers to healthcare, and improving language access and health outcomes for Hispanic/Latino Americans  

• Fact sheet 

Learn more. 

Dates: See below 

The Shielding Your Well-Being: Post-Traumatic Growth webinar series for professionals in the child sexual exploitation fields will discuss post-traumatic growth and transformational meaning and identify tools and techniques to mitigate the adverse effects on individuals in their workplace and personal lives. Webinars in the series include:  

• All About Stress: September 26, 2023, 2:00–3:30 pm ET 

• All About Trauma: October 24, 2023, 2:00–3:30 pm ET 

• Worry and Anxiety: November 28, 2023, 2:00–3:30 pm ET 

• Post-Traumatic Growth: December 12, 2023, 2:00–3:30 pm ET 

• Shielding Your Well-Being: Transformational Meaning: January 23, 2024, 2:00–3:30 pm ET 

Learn more and register. 

This webpage contains 10 frequently asked questions about drugs and health gathered from young people during National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week®. Learn more. 

This brief (PDF, 9 pages) shares lessons learned from the Fathers and Continuous Learning in Child Welfare (FCL) project, and describes ways fatherhood programs can use partnerships, including:  

• Identifying and locating fathers 

• Increasing credibility with fathers  

• Connecting fathers and families to resources  

• Creating a more cohesive client experience  

• Expanding capacity to serve diverse fathers  

• Documenting and understanding the outcomes of their programs  

The brief also discusses the benefits of diversifying partnerships and approaching them with intentionality. Learn more (PDF, 9 pages). 

This resource (PDF, 1 page) offers information about the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program for children, which provides critical financial assistance to children with qualifying disabilities and limited resources. The infographic explains social security’s definition of disability, describes program eligibility, and shares how to apply for SSI. Learn more (PDF, 1 page). 

This Peer Education Portal is a webpage where students, leaders, peer educators, and student health advocates are invited to share their school’s prevention education program with campuses nationwide. Learn more. 

In this activity, students will experiment with the conditions that affect how much groundwater certain types of soil can absorb. This activity is designed for students in grades 5–12 and for informal education environments. Learn more. 

In this video, astronaut Sultan Alneyadi tours the plant growing facilities astronauts use to conduct experiments on how plants grow in microgravity. This video explores the process of photosynthesis and how it impacts plant growth and food production in space. Educators can use this STEMonstration and the accompanying classroom connection (PDF, 10 pages) to help students explore photosynthesis and predict how changing the variables of light, water, or carbon dioxide in the photosynthesis process might impact the health of a plant. Learn more. 

In this activity, students will experiment with identifying different types of soil and testing soil pH levels. This activity is designed for students in grades 5–12 and for informal education environments. Learn more. 

This educator guide provides resources to help students use the engineering design process to construct, test, and analyze a prototype parachute designed to slow the descent of an egg and minimize the force of impact when landing. The guide contains student sheets, background information, steps of the engineering design process, tips for capturing digital video and using a video analysis app, a scoring rubric, physics formulas, and additional resources. Activity materials for grades 3–4 and 5–12 are provided. Learn more. 

Date: September 27, 2023, 1:00–2:00 pm ET 

This webinar will discuss the Participatory Systems Change for Equity framework, which is an approach to systems transformation that centers the expertise of those most impacted by child-, youth-, and family-serving systems to understand and interrupt inequitable system conditions. This session will review how the Participatory Systems Change for Equity framework can help schools, districts, counties, states, or other community-serving agencies reimagine how to transform systems in partnership with communities to promote equity, opportunity, and well-being. Learn more and register. 

September is Child Welfare Workforce Development Month (CWWDM). CWWDM celebrates the work of child welfare and social work professionals, leaders, and students. This webpage features CWWDM materials, including posters, certificates, a schedule of events, infographics, activities, and more. Learn more. 

This fact sheet (PDF, 9 pages) provides tips for how K-12 schools can apply the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) approach to reducing and removing opportunities for criminal behaviors at public schools. The fact sheet also discusses how schools can incorporate CPTED principles into emergency operations plan (EOP) development. Learn more (PDF, 9 pages). 

This fact sheet (PDF, 10 pages) provides tips for how institutions of higher education (IHEs) can apply the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) approach to reducing and removing opportunities for criminal behaviors at colleges and universities. The fact sheet also discusses how IHEs can incorporate CPTED principles into emergency operations plan (EOP) development. Learn more (PDF, 10 pages). 

This updated tool provides an opportunity for administrators, faculty and teachers, and other personnel at schools, districts, and institutions of higher education to assess their capacity to create and maintain a high-quality emergency operations plan (EOP). Users will receive a customized downloadable report upon completion of the tool. Learn more. 

This webpage features materials for CDC’s Empower Vape-Free Youth Campaign. The campaign encourages middle and high school educators to speak with students about the risks of e-cigarettes and nicotine addiction. The campaign also provides resources for educators to help students avoid or quit vaping. Materials include fact sheets, conversation cards, videos, resources for youth, and more. Learn more.