Introduction

Since 1975, the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) has provided national leadership on youth and family issues. FYSB promotes positive outcomes for children, youth and families by supporting a wide range of comprehensive services and collaborations at the local, Tribal, state and national levels.

FYSB is a bureau within the Administration on Children, Youth and Families; Administration for Children and Families; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The core of FYSB’s mission is to provide quality services for runaway and homeless youth, victims of domestic and dating violence and their children, and youth at risk of adolescent/teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. In addition to funding on-the-ground work, FYSB supports nationwide crisis hotlines that give runaway youth and victims of domestic violence the immediate help they need.

FYSB collaborates with other federal partners to coordinate policies and programs related to the nation’s young people and families. FYSB also leads federal efforts to promote Positive Youth Develop-ment. This approach is based on a body of research suggesting that certain “protective factors,” or positive influences, can help young people succeed and keep them from having problems.

Youth Services

Each year in the United States, thousands of youth run away from home, are asked to leave their homes, or become homeless. FYSB funds organizations and shelters that provide these young people with a sense of safety, self-sufficiency and well-being and connect them to caring people who they can turn to in good times and bad.

Basic Center Grant Program

Through the Basic Center Program, community-based organizations provide short-term shelter (up to 21 days) and address the immediate needs of runaway and homeless youth under the age of 18 and their families. Youth receive emergency shelter, food, clothing, counseling and referrals for health care. Basic Centers seek to reunite young people with their families, whenever it is safe to do so, or to arrange appropriate alternative placements. Program funds are allocated to states using a formula based on the state’s population of youth younger than age 18, according to the latest census data.

Transitional Living Grant Program

The Transitional Living Program for Older Homeless Youth, a discretionary grant program, promotes the independence of youth between 16 and 21 years old who are unable to return to their homes. Over a period of up to 21 months (with a provision that allows younger youth to stay until their 18th birthdays), grantees provide housing and a range of services, including life skills training, financial literacy instruction, and education and employment services. Youth might live in group homes or in their own apartments, depending on the program and each young person’s independent living skills. The Transitional Living Program includes maternity group homes that offer an intensive array of services to meet the short- and longer-term needs of pregnant and parenting youth and to prepare them to live independently.

Street Outreach Grant Program

The Street Outreach Program reaches vulnerable youth in unstable living situations. Discretionary grants are made to organizations that conduct street-based education and outreach and offer emergency shelter and related services to young people who have been, or who are at risk of being, sexually abused or exploited.

Demonstration Projects

FYSB funds discretionary demonstration projects to study and improve the effectiveness of services delivered to children, youth and families. Past projects have expanded access to shelters for minority youth, improved services in rural areas, tested home-based services, worked to prevent exploitation of young people, established links between runaway and homeless youth programs and domestic violence programs, promoted collaboration between state and local agencies on Positive Youth Development, and captured best practices in domestic violence prevention and services.Go to http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb for descriptions of ongoing projects.

A Network of Support

FYSB’s Runaway and Homeless Youth Program grantees and other adults who want to help youth in need get assistance from FYSB’s “Network of Support,” which includes:

National Runaway Switchboard

Since 1974, the National Runaway Switchboard has been the official “national communications system” authorized by Congress to help runaway and homeless youth make contact with their families and with service providers. The 24-hour hotline handles approximately 120,000 calls a year.

1-800-RUNAWAY
www.1800runaway.org
info@nrscrisisline.org

Runaway and Homeless Youth Management Information System (RHYMIS)

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Management Information System, or RHYMIS, captures data on the runaway and homeless youth served by FYSB grantee programs, including demographics and services provided to them. These statistics are available online.

1-800-RHYMIS4
http://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/rhymis
rhymis_help@csc.com

Training and Technical Assistance

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Program’s training and technical assistance centers answer grantees’ day-to-day program management questions and provide ongoing technical assistance in person, online and by phone. The centers also host forums, networking events and conferences to keep grantees up to date on important issues related to serving runaway and homeless youth.

(800) 806-2711
www.rhyttac.ou.edu
rhytraining@ou.edu
rhytechnicalassistance@ou.edu

National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth (NCFY)

NCFY provides grantees and the public with information about effective strategies for supporting young people and families. A searchable online literature database contains abstracts of thousands of youth-related publications. NCFY publications about youth development issues are requested for conferences, trainings, and community outreach efforts.

(301) 608-8098
ncfy.acf.hhs.gov
ncfy@acf.hhs.gov

Family Violence Prevention and Services

FYSB’s Division of Family Violence Prevention and Services administers the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) grants, which fund programs that provide shelter and supportive services—such as legal advocacy, support groups and children’s counseling—to victims of domestic violence and their children. FVPSA funding also supports organizations offering a range of resources related to family violence, from training and technical assistance for service providers to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Family Violence Prevention and Services Grants to States and Territories

The FVPSA formula grants to States and territories fund local public, private, nonprofit and faith-based organizations and programs demonstrating effectiveness in the field of domestic violence services and prevention. These domestic violence programs provide shelter, safety planning, crisis counseling, information and referral, legal advocacy, and a range of supportive services for victims of domestic and dating violence and their children.

Family Violence Prevention and Services Grants to Tribes

Grantees of this formula program for Tribes provide culturally competent services, including shelter and supportive services, for victims of domestic violence and their dependents. FVPSA funding is available to the 500 officially recognized Native American Tribes including Alaska native Villages; the program currently funds over 200 Tribes and Tribal Organizations.

State Domestic Violence Coalitions

FYSB funds FVPSA State Domestic Violence Coalition formula grants to provide technical assistance and training to local domestic violence programs and serve as the go-to organizations for coordination of statewide services and emerging issues. Every state and some territories have one federally recognized coalition. Go to www.nnedv.org/resources/coalitions.html for a list.

Ten percent of the funds appropriated by Congress for FVPSA formula grants are allocated to the coalitions. Each coalition receives an equal share of the funding.

Discretionary Programs

Each year, FYSB funds a range of discretionary programs in family violence prevention and services. The programs aim to improve family violence prevention, victim protection, service delivery and design, data collection on the incidence of family violence, and understanding of issues related to family violence.

Past funding priorities have included enhancing services for children exposed to domestic violence and runaway and homeless youth experiencing dating violence, eliminating barriers to service for victims of domestic violence with behavioral health issues, and expanding leadership opportunities in the domestic violence field for people from underrepresented groups.

Supporting Victims of Domestic Violence and Service Providers

To augment the services provided by its family violence prevention and services grant programs and to continually improve the systems that address domestic violence, FYSB funds a national hotline for victims and their families, a network of resource centers specializing in issues related to domestic violence, and culturally specific institutes to promote culturally relevant services for victims of domestic violence, their families and communities.

National Domestic Violence Hotline

The National Domestic Violence Hotline aids victims of domestic violence 24 hours a day. Hotline advocates assist victims, and anyone calling on their behalf, by providing crisis intervention, safety planning and referrals to local service providers. The hotline receives more than 24,000 calls a month.

800-799-SAFE (7233)
www.ndvh.org

National and Special Issue Resource Centers

Comprised of five centers, FYSB’s National Domestic Violence Resource Network works to strengthen the existing support systems serving battered women, their children, and other victims of domestic violence.

Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence 888-792-2873 800-313-1310
National Resource Center on Domestic Violence 800-537-2238
Resource Center on Child Custody Protection 800-527-3223
Resource Center on Civil and Criminal Law (Battered Women’s Justice Project) 800-903-0111
Sacred Circle (National Resource Center to End Violence Against Native Women) 877-733-7623

Population and Culturally-Specific Institutes

Alianza: The National Latino Alliance for the Elimination of Domestic Violence 800-342-9908
Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence APIA Health Forum 415-954-9988
Encuentro Latino National Institute on Family Violence 888-743-7545
Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community 877-643-8222
National Immigrant Family Violence Institute 314-773-9090

For more information about the centers and institutes, go to http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb/content/familyviolence/centers.htm.

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Teen Pregnancy Prevention

To prevent teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among adolescents, FYSB supports state, Tribal and community efforts to promote medically accurate comprehensive sex education, adulthood preparation programs and abstinence education. In these efforts, FYSB works closely with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Adolescent Health.

State Personal Responsibility Education Grant Program

The State Personal Responsibility Education Program, or State PREP, promotes proven methods for reducing adolescent pregnancy, delaying sex among young people and increasing the use of condoms and other contraceptives among sexually active youth. Formula grants are made to states to help them meet their teen pregnancy prevention goals. Programs must provide medically accurate information, be culturally relevant and age-appropriate, and emphasize both abstinence and contraception as ways to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Programs also prepare youth for adulthood by addressing healthy relationships, adolescent development, financial literacy, parent-child communication, preparation for educational and career success, and healthy life skills. Projects are aimed at youth ages 10-19 as well as pregnant women and mothers under age 21 and their partners.

Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Grant Program

The Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Program, or Tribal PREP, promotes proven and culturally appropriate methods for reducing adolescent pregnancy, delaying sex among young people and increasing the use of condoms and other contraceptives among sexually active youth. Discretionary grants are made to Tribes to help them combat the disproportionately high rates of teen pregnancy and birth in Indian Country. Programs follow program-design guidelines similar to those of State PREP. To ensure that the program honors Tribal needs, traditions and cultures, FYSB conducted a series of public consultations that brought together more than 150 people from more than 30 Tribes.

Personal Responsibility Education Innovative Strategies Grant Program

Personal Responsibility Education Innovative Strategies Grant Program, or PREIS, provides discretionary grants to organizations that are using innovative strategies to prevent pregnancy among youth ages 10-19 who are homeless, in or “aging out” of foster care, live in rural areas or in geographic areas with high teen birth rates, or come from racial or ethnic minority groups, as well as pregnant youth and mothers under the age of 21. The program supports research and demonstration programs that develop, replicate, refine and test new models and strategies for preventing teen pregnancy. Programs may include curricula or interventions that are popular in the field, but may not have been rigorously evaluated. Grantees may synthesize differing approaches that are based on some preliminary evidence of effectiveness. Frequently, grantees base their program designs on widely accepted evidence-based programs, which they adapt by adding new and innovative approaches vetted by national experts. All models tested by the grantees must provide medically accurate information tailored to the ages of the young people being served.

State Abstinence Grant Program

FYSB’s State Abstinence Program, extended through fiscal year 2014, helps states teach young people the social, psychological and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity. The formula program aims to prevent teen pregnancy among the most at-risk youth, such as those in or aging out of foster care. The grants enable states to offer abstinence education programs to cultivate young people’s belief in the value of abstinence, strengthen their ability to resist peer pressure and increase their knowledge of how to prevent sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. The programs may also provide mentoring, counseling and adult supervision that promotes abstinence from sexual activity. States are encouraged to develop flexible, effective abstinence-based plans that are responsive to their specific needs. As part of those plans, states must utilize abstinence education models that are evidence-based and medically accurate. FYSB awards abstinence funds to states proportionally, based on the number of low-income children in each state.

For more information about the legal guidelines states must follow in providing abstinence education, see http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb/content/programs/tpp/sap-facts.htm.

National Resource for Youth- and Family-Related Issues

National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth

FYSB’s National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth (NCFY) provides information about effective strategies for supporting young people and families. A searchable online literature database contains abstracts of thousands of publications related to youth, families and FYSB’s programs. NCFY’s award-winning electronic and print publications offer youth workers a wealth of information about innovative ideas in youth work, sustainability and developments in family and youth services.

NCFY responds by phone, email and one-on-one live chat to information requests regarding youth programming and policy, resources, national youth-related initiatives and other topics.

NCFY also supports FYSB in working with other federal agencies and national organizations to strengthen youth and families.

301-608-8098
http://ncfy.acf.hhs.gov
ncfy@acf.hhs.gov

Subscribe to NCFY’s newsletters at http://ncfy.acf.hhs.gov.

For More Information

For up-to-date information about FYSB and its programs, go to www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb, or contact

National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth
P.O. Box 13505
Silver Spring, MD 20911-3505
301-608-8098
ncfy@acf.hhs.gov
ncfy.acf.hhs.gov

For information about open funding opportunities, go to the Federal Government’s central funding database, Grants.gov, or visit the Administration for Children and
Families Grant Opportunities Web site, www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/index.html.

This brochure was developed for the Family and Youth Services Bureau; Administration on Children, Youth and Families; Administration for Children and Families; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; by JBS International, Inc., under contract No. GS10F0285K to manage the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth.