Hosted in collaboration with Mental Health America and the GlobalMentalHealth@Harvard Initiative, this May 11, 2021 webinar focused on Peer Support and Youth Mental Health. In this 60-minute dialogue, Satvik Sethi of Runaway App, Martin Rafferty and Tia Barnes of Youth Era, and Dr. Cindy Liu of Harvard Medical School discussed the current challenges and successes in youth mental health, ways to empower youth, and tools to support them.

This collection from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health includes resources from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Justice, and other stakeholders to support emotional well-being and recovery. The resources target two sets of populations: Individuals, Families, and Communities; and Crisis Counseling Providers, Law Enforcement, and Other Social Service Professionals.

This guide supports parents, rescue workers, and members of the larger community as they help children begin to recover from traumatic events and overcome those experiences. The guide includes the definition of trauma; common responses to trauma among young children (ages 5 and younger), children (ages 6 to 11), and adolescents (ages 12 to 17); and action steps when someone in crisis needs help.

The Brother, You’re on My Mind toolkit provides Omega Psi Phi Fraternity chapters and partners with materials to educate fellow fraternity brothers and community members on depression and stress in African American men. The toolkit can be used by all to plan and implement community education events and strategically build community partnerships to meet initiative goals.

This set of resources presents data and research highlighting how food insufficiency increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Included are data visualizations on food insufficiency rates by race/ethnicity, mapping the average rate of food insufficiency, and comparative state rates of food insufficiency calculated from the Census Household Pulse Survey. Also featured are research briefs on hunger, poverty, and health during the pandemic and its impact on identified special populations.

This report presents interim findings of a national random assignment evaluation of the Family-Self Sufficiency (FSS) program which is implemented in households receiving Housing Choice Vouchers through 700 public housing agencies. FSS consists of two elements: case managers who work with participants to develop individualized self-sufficiency plans, and the creation of an interest-bearing escrow account to support participants’ asset development. The report reviews implementation of the FSS program, program participants’ engagement, and the impacts on labor force participation and government benefits receipt.

The Corporation for Supportive Housing will host a webinar course on August 25, 2021 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. ET targeting direct service workers, service coordinators, peer specialists, and facilities staff. The course helps participants understand common mental health symptoms and how best to help supportive housing tenants. Course participants will learn how to: identify mental illness symptoms and to support tenants struggling with them, engage these tenants and de-escalate certain situations, create an individualized service plan with tenants, and determine which healthcare system partners to engage to ensure tenants receive needed care. There is a registration fee for this webinar.

The American Public Human Services Association and the National Association of Welfare Research Statistics will host a hybrid (in-person and virtual learning) conference from August 22 to August 25, 2021 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The conference will bring together policy, practice, research, and various programs to advance the collective goal of achieving economic mobility and well-being for everyone. Workshops are being developed to help health and human service leaders, policymakers, and researchers in developing human services programs through collaboration, integration, modernization, and guidance on effectively monitoring quality control and performance management. A registration fee is required.

This blogpost highlights a new partnership between the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Chief Probation Officers of California that supports strategies to change juvenile probation in California. The partnership is exploring how county-level probation can work with community partners to connect young people to the guidance, opportunities and support they require to thrive at home. The partnership will include training and other technical assistance to county probation leaders and staff.

Working families, administrators of public benefits, and grassroots service practitioners have been at the forefront of federal policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. This July 19, 2021 webinar recording examines challenges providing and receiving services within the federal safety net. The recording also identifies opportunities for federal benefits reform under the expanded child tax credit and other federal cash assistance programs, and includes discussions with Mary Bogle of the Urban Institute; George Jones of Bread for the City; Laura Zeilinger of the DC Department of Human Services; and Yamila Ruiz of One Fair Wage.