Find Youth Info

Map My Community is a tool designed to assist in locating resources in your community to help you build and strengthen your youth program. It's a great way to brainstorm regarding building new partnerships, identify gaps in your community, and learn about existing resources, in order to avoid duplication of effort.

The Program Directory is a searchable database of evidence-based, federally-funded youth programs. You can search for programs by risk factor, protective factor, or keyword.

Two New Resources for Disconnected Youth

The term "disconnected youth" generally refers to young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are not in school or employed in the legitimate workforce.  

They may have had experience with the criminal justice system or have been in foster care. They aren’t receiving the education, work, civic, and family support they need to be successful adults.

Follow the Money: Funding and Legislative Opportunities on the Horizon to Serve Disconnected Youth discusses current and pending legislation that present opportunities to fund programs in communities to keep young people connected to school and recapture those who are not engaged in school or work.


Building a Comprehensive Youth Employment Delivery System: Examples of Effective Practice describes the landscape for youth in many high poverty urban communities across the country and outlines examples of effective collaboration across the education, juvenile justice and child welfare systems to address the needs of this population.

Top Five Online Resources for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care

1.) Foster Care Alumni of America's mission is to connect the alumni community and to transform policy and practice, ensuring opportunity for people in and from foster care: http://www.fostercarealumni.org/

2.) FosterClub provides online networking and the opportunity to apply to become an All-Stars, and travel the country inspiring their younger peers and infusing youth perspective into the child welfare system: http://www.fosterclub.com/

3.) The National Independent Living Association is committed to enhancing the futures of young people by promoting quality services including technical assistance, youth advocacy, and support mechanisms to assist youth who are making the transition into adulthood: http://www.nilausa.org/

*Please note: Now that the Casey It's My Life conference is on hiatus, the annual NILA conference is the primary conference that facilitates interaction between foster care youth, foster care alumni and child welfare professionals this year.

4.) Orphan Foundation of America is the country’s leading provider of scholarships for foster youth pursuing higher education. They have a virtual mentoring program to support students seeking higher ed: http://www.statevoucher.org/

5.) Youth Communication helps teenagers develop their skills in reading, writing, thinking, and reflection, so they can acquire the information they need to make thoughtful choices about their lives: http://www.youthcomm.org/