Planned Parenthood - This site is the official gateway to Planned Parenthood's online community, as well as a wealth of reproductive health and rights information, services, and resources.
Teen Health - MedlinePlus is a service of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world's largest medical library, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Our mission is to present high-quality, relevant health and wellness information that is trusted, easy to understand, and free of advertising, in both English and Spanish. Anywhere, anytime, on any device—for free.
Go Ask Alice - Go Ask Alice! is an anonymous health and well-being question and answer site. We answer the questions that readers can’t find anywhere else.
Jed Foundation - The Jed Foundation is a nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for our nation’s teens and young adults, giving them the skills and support they need to thrive today…and tomorrow.
Disability Rights CA - Disability Rights California (DRC) defends, advances, and strengthens the rights and opportunities of people with disabilities.
Disabilities @ youth.gov - youth.gov (formerly FindYouthInfo.gov) was created by the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs (IWGYP), which is composed of representatives from 13 federal departments and 12 federal agencies that support programs and services focusing on youth.
Young Women's Health - An award-winning health website for young women and members of gender minorities around the world. Here, you can find answers to your questions, health guides on a variety of topics, health chats, and more!
Girl's Health - The mission of girlshealth.gov, developed by the Office on Women’s Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is to promote healthy, positive behaviors in all girls. Girlshealth.gov gives girls reliable, useful information on the health issues they will face as they become young women, and tips on handling relationships with family and friends, at school and at home.
Young Men's Health - Youngmenshealthsite.org (YMH) is a website developed by the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. The purpose of the website is to provide carefully researched health information to teenage boys and young men.
College Resources
CaliforniaColleges.edu - California’s official college and career planning platform. Lessons and tools help students discover goals for life after high school, make plans to achieve them, and launch their futures. It’s free for California 6th - 12th grade students, their parents, and educators.
California Community Colleges - The California Community Colleges will provide you with life-changing opportunities and a clear path to your goals.
CA Department of Education College Planning - California will provide a world-class education for all students, from early childhood to adulthood. The Department of Education serves our state by innovating and collaborating with educators, schools, parents, and community partners. Together, as a team, we prepare students to live, work, and thrive in a multicultural, multilingual, and highly connected world.
Financial Aid Resources
FinAid - Information on financial aid for college and tips on how to help ease the burden of college expenses.
California Student Aid Commission - The Commission is the principal state agency responsible for administering financial aid programs for students attending public and private universities, colleges, and vocational schools in California. The Commission has never wavered from its central mission to make education beyond high school financially accessible to all Californians.
Niche Scholarships - With in-depth profiles on every school and college in America, over 140 million reviews and ratings, and powerful search and data tools, Niche helps millions of students and families find and enroll in the right school for them.
Scholar Match - Scholar Match’s mission is to support underserved first-generation college students from low-income backgrounds to earn a bachelor’s degree within five years. We provide virtual individualized advising, targeted financial support, and career mentoring all the way to graduation.
Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteer @ PVLD - The Palos Verdes Library District welcomes volunteers! If you are interested in volunteering with the Palos Verdes Library District and are at least 14 years old, please complete the online volunteer application and indicate skills/interest and availability. Applicants will be contacted as volunteer opportunities become available. For more information, please call 310.377.9584 x 248 or email volunteer@pvld.org.
DoSomething.org - A collective of young people changing the world. Join the millions who are taking action on the issues that matter most.
California Volunteers - The #CaliforniansForAll service initiative was launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to build on the efforts of California Volunteers to establish a statewide volunteer corps to help with the state’s response to emergencies and disasters. California Volunteers also administers the AmeriCorps programs in California with over 80 programs providing critical services to more than 160,000 Californians annually.
Career Resources
California Career Zone - The California CareerZone site is powered by Headed2, a secure web-based platform designed to help you explore, plan, and prepare for a career you’ll love.
Tilting Futures - We equip young people worldwide to create meaningful impact on global issues.
My Future - My Future™ helps young adults plan their next steps in life by bringing together the most recently available information about colleges, careers and military service opportunities from the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, Education and Labor.
Reading
Epic Reads - Browse through YA books, see what's publishing soon, or search by genre.
Simon Teen Free Reads - Riveted by Simon Teen is an online community for anyone that loves young adult fiction! Here at Riveted by Simon Teen, you can read YA books for free, discover your new favorite books and authors, enter for the chance to win new and upcoming releases, and more!
Novels and Waffles - If you’re an overwhelmed blogger in serious need of a good book to get you through this metaphorical night of endless stress, then you’ve come to the right place.
Rich in Color - Rich in Color is dedicated to reading, reviewing, talking about, and otherwise promoting young adult fiction starring or written by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). We believe that teens should be able to find themselves in the kinds of books they love to read.
The Hub - Your connection to teen collections via YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association.
Writing
PV Writes Together - Calling all writers! PVLD's annual Writing program is back in full swing! Join us for inspirational writing events throughout the months of October/November.
Writing Tips from Author Natasha Ngan - Natasha Ngan is the New York Times bestselling author of the Girls of Paper and Fire trilogy. She grew up between Malaysia, where the Chinese side of her family is from, and the UK. This multicultural upbringing influences her writing, and she is passionate about bringing diverse stories to readers.
10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know About Writing - John Scalzi is an American science fiction author and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
The Ultimate Guide to Writing YA Fiction - So You Want to Write? connects writers and literary agents so you can improve your writing and get published.
Crisis Support
National Runaway Safe Line - For 50 years, the National Runaway Safeline has been responding to youth and families in crisis, serving as the national communications system for runaway and homeless youth. We continually transform technology, training and services to meet the current needs of vulnerable youth and ultimately achieve an end to youth homelessness.
National Suicide Prevention Hotline - The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the United States. The Lifeline is comprised of a national network of over 200 local crisis centers, combining custom local care and resources with national standards and best practices.
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) - NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.
RAINN: National Sexual Abuse Hotline - RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE, online.rainn.org y rainn.org/es) in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.
Safe Harbor Hope - Safe Harbor is a nonprofit organization that provides shelter, supportive services, and advocacy to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. We also provide education, awareness, and resources to our community. Since Safe Harbor began as a grassroots effort by a dedicated group of citizens in 1997, our services and practices have continued to grow and evolve to meet the needs of survivors, those impacted by violence, and our community. We have implemented strengths-based, trauma-informed best practices recognizing that each person we serve is an expert in their experience.
Crisis Text Line - Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7, high-quality text-based mental health support and crisis intervention by empowering a community of trained volunteers to support people in their moments of need. We are a nonjudgmental organization that champions equity in mental well-being and aims to support people of every race, ethnicity, political affiliation, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, socioeconomic status, and other diverse backgrounds. We use empathy and active listening to empower our texters to identify their own strengths and coping strategies in moments of crisis. We listen to and learn from our community to help us continuously improve our service.
Counseling
It Gets Better - Empowering LGBTQ+ youth to define their own journey.
YouthLine - YouthLine is a peer-to-peer youth crisis and support service provided by Lines for Life—a non-profit dedicated to preventing substance abuse and suicide. YouthLine operates a national help, support, and crisis line that provides crisis support and referrals via call, text, and chat. The YouthLine is answered by teen volunteers and young adult interns daily from 4pm-10pm Pacific Time (and by adults at all other times!). Translation services are available upon request.
Need2Text - There’s often a fine line between feeling OK and not OK. And it can be hard to manage on your own. That’s why there’s a free, confidential text line to connect you with trained counselors, 24/7.
The Trevor Project - The Trevor Project is the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention nonprofit organization for LGBTQ+ young people. We provide information & support to LGBTQ+ young people 24/7, all year round.
PVLD Database Page - High School and Middle School Research, JSTOR, Literary Reference Center, Mango Langauges, and more to help you with your homework and research projects.
Brainfuse - On demand, anytime, anywhere eLearning. View how easy, intuitive and engaging Brainfuse HelpNow eLearning is for all ages and levels. Live homework help, Study tools, 24/7 help center, writing lab, and more.
Credo Reference - Over 11,000 topic pages covering thousands of topics that are updated with related readings.
Khan Academy - Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computing, history, art history, economics, and more, including K-14 and test preparation (SAT, Praxis, LSAT) content. We focus on skill mastery to help learners establish strong foundations, so there's no limit to what they can learn next!
Hippo Campus - HippoCampus.org is a free, core academic website that delivers rich, multimedia content—videos, animations, and simulations—on general education subjects. As an open resource for personalized learning, HippoCampus.org was designed to improve access to quality education for everyone, and is powered by The NROC Project (NROC), a nonprofit organization that collaborates with secondary, postsecondary, and adult education leaders to improve student readiness, persistence, and success. NROC makes editorial and engineering investments to maintain HippoCampus.org.
National Center for Learning Disabilities - The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) is a non-profit organization focused on building community, sharing resources, and shaping policy to help individuals with learning and attention issues.