CCTAN - The Child Care Technical Assistance Network, a service of the Office of Child Care

This fact sheet provides information on how to support children who have experienced traumatic separation from a caregiver or other family member due to incarceration, military deployment, immigration, or termination of parental rights. It includes tips for professionals who are supporting these children. This resource supports resiliency.

This issue brief explains the concepts of Positive Youth Development (PYD), Social Emotional Learning (SEL), and Youth Leadership (YL) and how they are related. Embedded in the document are ideas for best practices and additional resources. It was created by the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) as a means of articulating a common framework to guide all their programs. This resource could be used as a professional development training tool.

This brief presents a framework that broadens our understanding of how, when, and where youth learn. It recommends ways for how youth development organizations can build partnerships with schools, juvenile justice, foster care, and families to support growth and development. It provides city examples.

Family-friendly policies offer parents financial stability and continuity in the care of children. They can also reduce the administrative burden for CCDF lead agencies. This brief addresses benefits to children and families when lead agencies adopt practices such as lengthening eligibility periods, supporting hours  beyond parent work schedule to improve child outcomes, and simplifying the eligibility process so it  reduces administrative workload. 

This issue brief describes the importance and impact of involving families in youth development programs. It presents examples of how programs that are part of the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development have used three strategies to engage families: communication, participation, and partnerships. These best practices may inspire others on how to tailor their approach to meet the specific needs and opportunities of each program/community.

This issue brief explores how strategies for increased support for expanded learning programs can help reduce the disparities in educational outcomes between student populations. It provides examples from California's efforts to use local funding to enable more lower-income students have access to enrichment opportunities in out-of-school time. Strategies include increased funding for continuous improvement, more professional development, and increased coordination between out-of-school time and the school day by increasing the number of staff who work across both settings.

This Practice Brief, the fourth in a periodic series published by the National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE), was developed following a Peer Learning Community (PLC) designed to strengthen workforce systems to advance both individual career development and program quality. 

This brief identifies evidence-based prevention tools that are low-cost targeted strategies for SEL. These "kernels" of practice are easy to implement and helpful for afterschool and summer programs that would be challenged to bring a full SEL curriculum to scale due to time or financial constraints. For example, to promote emotional self-regulation, staff can help children learn deep breathing, positive self-talk, yoga, and exercises. This resource supports resilience. 

This issue brief provides an overview of social emotional learning (SEL) and character-building opportunities as well as challenges for expanded learning programs. It includes numerous SEL activities and resources on character education at both the program and organizational level. This resource supports resilience.

This issue brief offers an overview of risk factors and symptoms associated with opioid abuse and a list of interventions that can improve outcomes for children and teens affected by opioid exposure. Geared for parents, schools, and programs, each entry includes a description of the intervention, examples of associated actions, and quality indicators that can be expected when the intervention is implemented successfully.