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Communication Action Series

ALCOHOL Toolkit

Parents/Caregivers

Educators

Healthcare Professionals

Teens

Marijuana Toolkit

Parents/Caregivers

Educators

Healthcare Professionals

Teens

MENTAL HEALTH Toolkit

Parents/Caregivers

Educators

Healthcare Professionals

Teens

VAPING Toolkit

Parents/Caregivers

Educators

Healthcare Professionals

Teens

Bulleted Action Steps Parents Can Take when Talking to Their Kids: (55 words/304 characters or less)

  • Learn the facts about vaping and e-cigarettes
  • Look for teachable moments
  • Familiarize Yourself with Your State’s Tobacco Laws.
  • Make sure your home and vehicle are tobacco-free zones.
  • Set a positive example by being tobacco-free.
  • Acquaint yourself with SAMHSA’s TIPS for TEENS help line: 1-877-726-4727

RACIAL EQUITY Toolkit

Fast Facts Citations.

BIPOC teens are put into policing and state surveillance systems at 5x the rate of their white peers with comparable challenges.
Black youth are more than four times as likely to be detained or committed in juvenile facilities as their white peers, according to nationwide data collected in October 2019 and recently released. In 2015, Black youth’s incarceration rate was 5.0 times as high as their white peers, an all-time peak. That ratio fell to 4.4, a 13% decline.1)
Juvenile facilities, including 1,510 detention centers, residential treatment centers, group homes, and youth prisons2) held 36,479 youths as of October 2019. (These data do not include the 653 people under 18 in prisons at year-end 20193) or the estimated 2,900 people under 18 in jails at midyear 2019.4))
Forty-one percent of youths in placement are Black, even though Black Americans comprise only 15% of all youth across the United States.5)
Black youth are more likely to be in custody than white youth in every state but one: Hawaii.

  • In New Jersey, Wisconsin, District of Columbia, and Connecticut, African American youth are at least 10 times more likely to be held in placement as are white youth.
  • South Carolina, Tennessee, and Nebraska have seen their racial disparity grow by at least one-third.
  • Indiana, New Jersey, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, and Nevada decreased their racial disparity by at least one-third.

The Sentencing Project:

Federal data for youth of color referred to here:

  • https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/racial-disparities-in-school-discipline-are-growing-federal-data-shows/2018/04/24/67b5d2b8-47e4-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html

Emphasis on Black youth here:

The Sentencing Project – https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/black-disparities-youth-incarceration/
Nationally, the Black youth placement rate was 114 per 100,000. The Black youth placement rate was 315 per 100,000, compared to the white youth placement rate of 72 per 100,000.
Racial disparities grew by more than 10% in 11 states and decreased by at least 10% in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

  • In New Jersey, Wisconsin, District of Columbia, and Connecticut, African American youth are at least 10 times more likely to be held in placement as are white youth.
  • South Carolina, Tennessee, and Nebraska have seen their racial disparity grow by at least one-third.
  • Indiana, New Jersey, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, and Nevada decreased their racial disparity by at least one-third.
  • Having even one BIPOC mentor can have a life-altering impact on BIPOC teens.

Black male mentors: Top 4 reasons why they are essential:

Native American Youth Mentorship Program Mission Statement:

Handbook of Youth Mentoring

  • Pryce, J., Kelly, M. S., & Guidone, S. R. (2014). Mentor and youth matching. In D. L. DuBois & M. J. Karcher (Eds.), Handbook of youth mentoring (2nd ed., pp. 427–438). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

The Impact of Mentors on the Well-Being of Native American Children

  • https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2017/12/american-indian-mentors
  • While potential volunteer mentors come from all walks of life, recruiting from the ranks of the Tribal Council, Elders, Tribal employees, housing agencies, spiritual leaders, Native colleges and Native child welfare agencies has yielded positive results. Native American paraprofessionals, 4-H groups, Juvenile Justice Authorities, government officials, AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have also been ideal resources from which to recruit mentors. (Mentor Consulting Group (n.d.). Engaging mentors who are part of or have experience with the community being served yields positive results. Commonality is a key factor to ensure establishing trust and long-term mentor-mentee relationships.

Preventing and Curtailing Gang Violence

LGBTQ+ Toolkit

FACT: Suicidal thoughts at 3-10x the rate of hetero peers

  • Trevor Website and its cites https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/ 
  • Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24.1
  • LGB youth seriously contemplate suicide at almost three times the rate of heterosexual youth.2
  • LGB youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth.2
  • Of all the suicide attempts made by youth, LGB youth suicide attempts were almost five times as likely to require medical treatment than those of heterosexual youth.2
  • Suicide attempts by LGB youth and questioning youth are 4 to 6 times more likely to result in injury, poisoning, or overdose that requires treatment from a doctor or nurse, compared to their straight peers.2
  • In a national study, 40% of transgender adults reported having made a suicide attempt. 92% of these individuals reported having attempted suicide before the age of 25.3
  • LGB youth who come from highly rejecting families are 8.4 times as likely to have attempted suicide as LGB peers who reported no or low levels of family rejection.4
  • 1 out of 6 students nationwide (grades 9–12) seriously considered suicide in the past year. [5]
  • Each episode of LGBT victimization, such as physical or verbal harassment or abuse, increases the likelihood of self-harming behavior by 2.5 times on average.6

SOURCES:

[1] CDC, NCIPC. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online]. (2010) {2013 Aug. 1}. Available from:www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars.
[2] CDC. (2016). Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health-Risk Behaviors Among Students in Grades 9-12: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
[3] James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality.
[4] Family Acceptance Project™. (2009). Family rejection as a predictor of negative health outcomes in white and Latino lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults. Pediatrics. 123(1), 346-52.
[5] CDC. (2016). Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health-Risk Behaviors Among Students in Grades 9-12: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
[6] IMPACT. (2010). Mental health disorders, psychological distress, and suicidality in a diverse sample of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youths. American Journal of Public Health. 100(12), 2426-32.
FACT: Even one mentor can make a difference
FACT: Most kids have no mentors
Big Brother Big Sister Supplement Text: These barriers often keep LGBTQQ youth from receiving the guidance and support they need. One report estimated that 89 percent of at-risk LGBTQQ youth grow up without the benefit of a structured mentoring relationship, and that 37 percent of them grow up without a mentor of any kind.26 Both of these percentages are higher than reported in other research about the prevalence of mentoring across all youth.
Cite: Bruce, M., & Bridgeland, J. (2014). The mentoring effect: Young people’s perspectives on the outcomes and availability of mentoring. Washington, DC: Civic Enterprises with Hart Research Associates for MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership.KEY SOURCE: https://www.mentoring.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/MENTOR_LGBTQ-Supplement-to-EEP-for-Mentoring.pdf

FACTS:

  • Gay and transgender teens who were highly rejected by their parents and caregivers were at very high risk for health and mental health problems when they become young adults (ages 21-25). Highly rejected young people were:
    • More than 8 times as likely to have attempted suicide
    • Nearly 6 times as likely to report high levels of depression
    • More than 3 times as likely to use illegal drugs, and
    • More than 3 times as likely to be at high risk for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases
  • KEY SOURCE: https://familyproject.sfsu.edu/sites/default/files/FAP_English%20Booklet_pst.pdf
  • PAGE 5 Homelessness citation: https://escholarship.org/