Federal Resources

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recognized state and local agencies of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) that excel in offering education and support for breastfeeding mothers. USDA also presented outstanding breastfeeding programs with WIC Breastfeeding Performance Bonuses, awarded to agencies and organizations that have demonstrated successful breastfeeding promotion and support efforts, and the WIC Loving Support Awards of Excellence, which honored WIC agencies utilizing the USDA Loving Support Model for successful peer counseling programs. 

USDA and NIH developed the Body Weight Planner, an interactive online tool that allows individuals who are trying to lose or gain weight see how they need to change their eating or physical activity levels to meet their goals. Users enter their age, weight, height, physical activity level, gender, and weight goal for personalized results. Users can also track their progress and receive periodic updates on how their progress matches up to their goals.

This blog post describes eBaby4U, a digital program designed specifically to inform and support African-American teen mothers as they care for their babies. 

This resource kit is designed to be used by summer meal site operators to teach kids and families about healthy habits. It uses music, games, art, and movement to motivate kids and families to make healthy food and drink choices, exercise, and limit screen time. 

This report includes data from the 2015 Farm to School Census. The public can access respondent level data, as well as state and national level data. Schools or districts that have received HealthierUS School Challenge: Smarter Lunchroom awards are also now noted on each respondent webpage. 

This webpage features English- and Spanish-language resource guides to help connect food insecure families to food assistance resources. 

This toolkit provides communication resources such as flyers, presentations, newsletter articles, and social media posts that schools can use to educate and engage staff and parents in school wellness. Many of the tools can be tailored to represent Local School Wellness Policy activities. 

This electronic prototype application serves as a model for how state and local program operators can develop effective and fully-compliant web-based applications for school meal benefits. 

This clearinghouse helps providers identify, select, and implement evidence-based programs and practices to address wide-ranging family and mental health issues. The searchable database includes effective and promising intervention programs as well as resources and strategies to ensure the welfare of military families. 

This report presents the most recent estimates of expenditures by families on children annually across childhood and adolescence. The report indicates that a middle-income married-couple family will spend between $12,350 and $13,900 annually, or $233,610 from birth through age 17, on child-rearing expenses. 

This website provides information on the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which provides nutritious meals to low-income children when school is not in session. Local organizations can use this website to learn how to be a part of the program. Families can use the search tool to find local sites serving meals. 

This resource provides a list of comprehensive services for opportunity youth.

This fact sheet describes a joint commitment from multiple federal departments to align supports and program delivery to promote college access and completion. The guidance will support colleges and universities in their efforts to expand college opportunity. 

This best practices guide  funded in part under a grant/contract supported by the Office of Disability Employment Policy of the U. S. Department of Laborh and the Technology Opportunities Program of the U. S. Department of Commerce,
National Telecommunications and Information Administration aims to help communities to  start mentoring programs or expand a program to include youth with disabilities.

The Census Bureau site serves as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. It contains thePopulation & Housing Census collected every 10 years, the Economic Census collected every 5 years, the Census of Governments collected every 5 years, the American Community Survey collected annually, a number of Demographic and Econmic surveys, and Economic Indicators that are released on a specific schedule.

A report by the U.S. Department of Commerce: Children and young adults have embraced new information technologies in large numbers. More than any other age group, these younger age groups use computers and the Internet widely for many of their daily activities.

This site includes a report, created by the Department of Commerce, which contains 11 stories about people who are working hard to ensure technology will enhance the lives of children.

Released by the Census Bureau, this report illustrates key indicators of poverty and family income. The report shows that the overall poverty rate fell 14.5% in 2013, and the poverty rate for people under age 18 fell 1.9% from 2012 to 2013, which is equivalent to 1.4 million young people lifted out of poverty. 

Volunteers play an integral role in supporting the environmental stewardship conducted every day by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Across the United states and its coastal waters, opportunities exist for volunteers to take part in research, observation and educational roles that benefit science, our citizens and our planet.

Regular updates and alerts from the National Weather Service.

This website uses Census data to educate K-12 students about statistical concepts and data analysis. Developed by educators to correspond with relevant education standards, teachers can incorporate these free resources into geography, history, math, and sociology activities. 

The DoD STARBASE is an educational program sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. Students can participate in challenging "hands-on, mind-on" activities in aviation, science, technology, engineering, math, and space exploration. The program provides students with 20-25 hours of stimulating experiences at National Guard, Navy, Marine, Air Force Reserve and Air Force bases across the nation.

This Department of Defense-sponsored website features content for children, tweens, and teens of military families. The site provides an online community that allows these young people to support one another while learning coping and resilience-building skills.

This site helps military youth cope with a deployment or move.

MilitaryHOMEFRONT is the Department of Defense website for official Military Community and Family Policy (MC&FP) program information, policy and guidance designed to help troops and their families, leaders, and service providers. Whether you live the military lifestyle or support those who do, you'll find what you need!