• OSDFS Announces FY09 Cooperative Civic Education and Economic Education Exchange Program Grant Competition. Closes on January 15, 2009.

• OSDFS Announces FY09 Grant Competition to Prevent High-Risk Drinking or Violent Behavior among College Students. Competition closes on January 30, 2009.

• OSDFS Announces FY 2009 Grant Competition for Partnerships in Character Education Program
  (CFDA) Number 84.215S. Competition closes on February 24, 2009.

• OSDFS Announces FY09 Foundations for Learning Grants. Closes on February 24, 2009.

• OSDFS Announces FY09 Safe Schools-Healthy Students Initiative Grant Competition. Closes on March 4, 2009.

• Technical Assistance Dial-in Teleconference for Potential Applicants
  The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools will offer a 90-minute technical assistance call during which staff will take questions from potential applicants on topics, including eligibility requirements, application requirements, and the peer review process.

  Date: Monday, January 12, 2009
  Time: 1:00-2:30 p.m. (Washington, DC time)
  Instructions: Call-in on 1-877-952-4133, when prompted please provide the following pass code number 4684719.

• Conference Name: Higher Education - Grant Competition

  Date: January 12, 2009
  Time: 1:00 pm ET (2 hours)
  Call In Number: Attendees - 866-261-3331

The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools is in the process of recruiting qualified reviewers for several of its competitions that will be held this year. Our office has a database that houses information supporting this process. For additional details click here.

• Notice of Proposed Priorities (NPP) and Requirements Comments due by January 22, 2009. PDF

• SAVE THE DATE: U.S. DEPT. OF ED's OSDFS WILL BE HOSTING OSDFS NATIONAL CONFERENCE, AUGUST 3-5. 2009. The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) will be hosting its National Conference August 3-5, 2009, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. The Convention Center is located on the Potomac River, in Prince Georges County MD, approximately 10 miles from downtown Washington, DC. The Conference will address issues related to crisis planning; health, mental health, and physical education; broad-based issues related to alcohol, drug and violence prevention; civic and character education; scientifically-based programs; and many other areas concerning drug and violence prevention. Please mark this date on your calendar for attending the 2009 OSDFS National Conference. Additional information about the conference will be forthcoming shortly.

• 2007 OSDFS National Conference
  Celebrating 20 Years of Collaboration To Make Schools Safe, Healthy, and drug Free: Reflecting on the Past and Looking Ahead was the theme of this year's conference that reflected on the past 20 years to highlight key events affecting the OSDFS and focused on how these occurences have molded the current mission today and outcomes for the future. It provided educational leaders with a valuable opportunity to explore these topics and receive information that can influence policy design and effective decisionmaking. Individual presentations from the conference will be available in the near future.

• SECRETARY'S LETTER AND OTHER INFORMATION FROM WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SCHOOL SAFETY
  As a follow-up to the recent White House Conference on School Safety, the U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, issued a follow-up cover letter and message from the conference. The Department also held a School Safety Live Video Webcast on November 15, 2007--to review crisis planning and learn how schools can mitigate, prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from a crisis.

2008

• OSDFS Announces FY 2008 Awards Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative

• OSDFS Announces FY 2008 Awards for Grants to Reduce Alcohol Abuse Program

• OSDFS Announcement FY 2008 Awards for Grants for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems Program

• OSDFS Announcement FY 2008 Award for School-Based Student Drug-Testing Programs

• OSDFS Announces FY 2008 Awards Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools

• OSDFS Announces FY 2008 Awards Grants for the Integration of Schools and Mental Health Systems

2007

• OSDFS Announces FY 2007 Mentoring Grants

• OSDFS Announces FY 2007 Awards for Emergency Response and Crisis Management Discretionary Grant Program
  MS Word (87K)

• OSDFS Announces FY 2007 Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative awards.

• OSDFS Announces FY 2007 Awards for Foundations for Learning Grants

• OSDFS Announces FY 2007 Awards for Grant to Reduce Alcohol Abuse

• OSDFS Announces FY 2007 Awards for the Carol M. White Physical Education Program Grants (includes contact and funding information)

Human Trafficking of Children in the United States - A Fact Sheet for Schools (August 2007)

• Federal Assistance to the Mid-West: Information
  You are in our thoughts as you face the challenges brought on by severe weather. Below is information we trust you will find useful in the days ahead. We will provide you with updated information as the situation warrants. As of Thursday, June 26, 2008, counties in eight states -- Iowa , Illinois , Mississippi , Nebraska , Indiana , Wisconsin , Minnesota , and Missouri - have been designated major disaster areas due to severe weather. This link provides valuable resources to obtain Federal assistance and to contact your State Emergency Management office.

• Prior Knowledge of Potential School Based Violence: Information Students Learn May Prevent A Target Attack is a collaborative study conducted by the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education (May 2008). View the Bystander study.

• Enhancing Achievement and Proficiency through Safe and Drug-Free Schools" is a report by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools Advisory Committee (June 2007) See the press release and report MS Word (156K)

• The Department's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools is organizing emergency teams of physicians and medical personnel to provide immediate mental health services to local communities. The OSDFS has established a toll-free hotline for people in crisis. By calling 1-800-273-TALK, callers will be connected to trained professionals from a network of local counseling centers that are prepared to help those suffering from emotional trauma, such as anger, grief, hopelessness, shock, and sleeplessness, as a result of the disaster. The hotline is open 24 hours a day, every day.