This Summer Toolkit shares trusted statewide resources to help youth, families, and school staff stay healthy, safe, and supported all summer long. It’s organized by audience—caregivers, children, and families, educators and professionals, and youth—so you can quickly find what you need. Each resource includes a bold title, a brief description, and a clickable link for easy access. Please feel free to add to your newsletter, forward via email, and share these resources with your networks.

We hope this toolkit makes your summer a little brighter and a lot easier.

Resources for Caregivers, Children, and Families

Food and Nutrition Support

2026 Summer Meal Service Sites from the California Department of Education is a tool for parents and agencies to search for locations that offer children free meals during summer break, sorted by county, school district, zip code, and more. The webpage is updated regularly to add more sponsors to the site. Please confirm with listed locations to ensure they are currently serving food.

California Association of Food Banks represents 43 food banks across California counties! Use the site to find your local food bank and further information about each location.

California WIC – More Food Options WIC now offers even more delicious and flexible food choices for families! Eligible participants can pick from added options like tofu, yogurt, peanut butter, beans, and more to match what their family enjoys. Not sure what to swap? Eligible participants can ask their WIC counselor, who will help them choose the foods that work best for their family’s needs.

SUN Bucks – California Summer EBT Program California’s Summer EBT program, also known as SUN Bucks, provides eligible families with $120 per child to help purchase food during the summer when school is out. Many eligible families are automatically enrolled. Getting and using SUN Bucks does not affect a family’s immigration status. Children receiving SUN Bucks may still participate in other food assistance programs, including CalFresh and Summer Meal Programs. SUN Bucks Helpline: (877) 328-9677 or California EBT Website (login required).

YMCA Food Program helps bridge the hunger gap by providing over 10,000 free lunches at partner locations throughout the summer. Use the website to find the addresses and additional information for participating locations across California.

Dental Health

Smile California hosts free community events across the state to help families learn about MediCal dental benefits and connect with oral health resources, offering educational materials, interactive activities, and support to help children and families build healthy dental habits. Upcoming events include local resource fairs, mobile dental van visits, and back‑to-school oral health activities, with a full list available online. Families can also access a wide range of free downloadable materials—including youth zines, booklets, activity sheets, brushing calendars, and multilingual flyers—to support oral health learning at home.

Heat Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Accessible Cooling Centers Guide gives communities quick, practical steps to ensure cooling centers are inclusive and usable for people with disabilities and access and functional needs.

Are You Heat Ready, California? provides simple, practical tips to stay safe during extreme heat—helping residents understand heat risks, recognize warning signs, find cooling centers, and prepare with easy steps to stay cool, hydrated, and connected.

CDPH’s Family Disaster Plan helps households get prepared before emergencies strike by guiding families through the steps needed to stay safe, connected, and ready to respond. The resource outlines how to identify local hazards, create meeting places, prepare for evacuations, and ensure every family member—including children, older adults, pets, and individuals with access or functional needs—knows what to do. It also offers practical checklists for emergency contacts, home safety, supply kits, and essential documents, along with tips for practicing and maintaining your plan over time.

Child Life Disaster Relief (CLDR) provides simple, practical tools to help caregivers support children during stressful or unpredictable events. Their resources offer easy‑to-use strategies that build safety, comfort, and coping skills, and can be shared digitally or printed for families, schools, or community partners. Explore their child-development guidance, coping supports, and caregiver resources.

Children and youth with asthma or other health conditions may face added risk during hot weather. See the link for more information.

Drowning Prevention Resources As temperatures heat up, keep water safety top of mind. Prevent drowning by always keeping new or inexperienced swimmers and young children within arm’s reach when swimming or around water.

HeatRisk Tool can be used to know when to reduce strenuous activity and help young people stay well‑hydrated. Check out the link for more important information, including that while fans may offer relief in moderate heat, once temperatures rise above 90°F they can increase heat stress by blowing hot air onto the body.

Heat Risk Grid: Understanding “HeatRisk” Level, Who is At Risk, and What Actions to Take The CDPH Heat Risk Grid explains what each HeatRisk level means, who is most vulnerable at each level, and the key actions individuals and communities should take to stay safe during hot weather.

Fire Smoke and Ash Safety: What Families Need to Know shares quick tips and guidance to help families and school communities stay safe during wildfire smoke and ash events.

Listos California offers free materials in many languages that you can use and share to promote disaster preparedness in your home and community. The disaster readiness hub provides easy tips for extreme heat, wildfires, earthquakes, floods, and more—plus tools to plan, build emergency kits, and sign up for local alerts. The resource library includes practical, multilingual materials you can download and share to help keep Californians safe, informed, and connected before, during, and after emergencies.

Resources to Support School Community Health & Enrichment

Behavioral Health and Wellness Resources

988 California provides free, confidential emotional support for anyone experiencing a mental health, substance use, or suicidal crisis. By calling, texting, or chatting 988, people are connected 24/7 to trained crisis counselors who offer compassionate support, help de-escalate situations, and connect individuals to local resources when needed. The 988 California Consortium coordinates crisis centers statewide to ensure every caller receives timely, culturally responsive care.

BrightLife Kids is a CalHope app by Brightline that provides mental health and caregiving support tailored to parents of children aged 0–12 years old and their families. BrightLife Kids is available free of charge for Californians.

Live Beyond CA Parents & Caregivers page offers clear, supportive guidance to help adults understand ACEs, reduce toxic stress, and create safe, nurturing environments where children can heal and thrive.

Learning, Enrichment, and Development Resources

Boys and Girls Clubs in California Summer is the perfect time for young people to explore, learn, and connect—and Boys & Girls Clubs across California offer countless ways to do just that. With Club locations spread throughout the State, families can discover affordable, safe, and enriching programs that help kids build confidence, stay active, and uncover new passions. From sports and arts to STEM, leadership, and summer camps, these Clubs open the door to exciting opportunities all season long, ensuring every child has a place to grow, belong, and thrive.

California State Library’s Branches page provides a statewide directory of public and institutional libraries, helping families, students, and school communities locate nearby library services and resources. Users can explore library locations across California, including branch contact details and links to local library websites. Before visiting, be sure to verify each library’s address, hours of operation, and any appointment requirements.

Kids Summer Fun Activity Book A collection of hands-on activities, games, and learning prompts from PBS to keep kids curious, creative, and engaged during summer break.

National Afterschool Association (NAA) offers a wide range of tools, articles, and professional learning resources to support high‑quality afterschool and expanded learning programs. Through the NAA resource library, educators and youth‑serving professionals can explore best practices, program improvement strategies, workforce development supports, and guidance to strengthen enrichment opportunities for children and youth.

Summer Learning Activities – National PTA Ready-to-use activities, family engagement ideas, and tools to help students stay active, learning, and connected during the summer months.

Summer Learning Fun! Tips for Parents & Caregivers A practical tip sheet offering simple ways families can support reading, enrichment, play, and learning all summer long.

Find your local YMCA YMCAs offer safe, welcoming spaces for children of all ages and their families to play, learn, move, and connect. Whether it’s swim lessons, after‑school programs, summer activities, or simply finding community, there’s a local Y ready to help your family thrive.

Resources for Educators and Professionals

Behavioral Health and Wellness Resources

CalHope offers free emotional support and wellness resources to help Californians manage stress, anxiety, and life challenges. Services include the CalHOPE Warm Line for peer support, the CalHOPE Red Line for Urban Indian and Tribal communities, Student Support programs for schools, and online wellness tools through Together for Wellness and CalHOPE Schools. The program provides accessible, culturally informed support to promote resilience and mental well‑being statewide.

Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative’s (CYBHI) resource library offers free videos, apps, printable materials, and other tools to support the emotional wellness of children, youth, and families during the summer months. Explore these resources to help students stay connected, supported, and mentally well throughout the break.

Live Beyond CA Providers & Community Support page shows how professionals and community members can help youth heal from ACEs by fostering supportive relationships, sharing information, and connecting families with trauma‑informed care.

Recognize, Respond, Connect: Supporting the Behavioral Health of Our Students is now available to all California school staff. This free, 50-minute online training helps educators working with students in grades seven through twelve to identify warning signs of mental, emotional, and behavioral health challenges, apply trauma-informed approaches to support students, and recognize when and how to connect students to additional help and resources.

Safe Spaces The Safe Spaces: Foundations of Trauma-Informed Practice for Educational and Care Settings online training helps early care providers, TK–12 educators, and other school staff recognize and respond to trauma and stress in children and create nurturing environments ​for enhanced learning and development. This free, self-paced two-hour training includes three learning modules for individuals who work with ages 0–5, 5–11, and 12–18, is available in English and Spanish, and offers Continuing Professional Education credit (CME/CE) for certain professionals. ​

CDSS Office of Youth Immigration administers culturally responsive social support programs for immigrant youth, partnering with school districts and community-based nonprofits to provide stability, legal support, and opportunities that help newcomer and unaccompanied minors thrive.

Know Your Rights gives adults clear tools to help youth understand and exercise their rights in California public schools. The site explains how students are protected from bullying, discrimination, and barriers to learning—including when facing housing instability—and offers guidance on what steps to take if a school violates those rights. This resource helps caregivers, educators, and advocates support youth in navigating challenges and securing the protections they’re entitled to.

School Environmental Safety and Air Quality Guidance

CDE Extreme Weather Guidance The California Department of Education provides statewide Extreme Weather Guidelines to help schools protect students during conditions like extreme heat, poor air quality, storms, and other hazardous weather. The guidance includes temperature and index thresholds, recommendations for modifying or canceling outdoor activities, communication protocols, and best practices to keep students safe. These guidelines support local educational agencies as they develop required weather safety protocols aligned with SB 1248.

CDPH Guidance for Local Health Jurisdictions and Community Service Providers for Extreme Heat CDPH’s Extreme Heat Guidance gives LHJs and community service providers—including schools—clear, practical steps to protect high‑risk populations during extreme heat, using HeatRisk tools, safety recommendations, and multilingual resources.

CDPH Guidance for Ventilation, Filtration & Indoor Air Quality outlines practical strategies schools can use to improve indoor air quality through ventilation, filtration, and optimized HVAC use. It includes recommendations for effective air changes per hour, outdoor air intake, cleaner indoor spaces, and respiratory virus mitigation.

CDPH IAQ Workforce Training Modules (UC Davis IAQ Project) These animated training modules help school facility teams understand ventilation, filtration, airflow, and indoor air quality basics. Developed through a CDPH–UC Davis partnership, the modules translate technical IAQ concepts into practical, easy‑to‑apply steps for school environments.

Health Guidance for Schools on Sports and Strenuous Activities During Extreme Heat This CDPH guidance helps schools protect students by outlining when to modify or postpone outdoor sports and strenuous activities during hot weather. It uses HeatRisk levels and provides practical tips to prevent heat related‑illness while supporting safe physical activity.

School Air Quality Guidance (CDE) helps schools make informed decisions about air quality conditions, ventilation, HVAC use, and activity planning—especially during wildfire smoke events. It also provides AQI‑based indoor/outdoor recommendations and resources for creating cleaner indoor air spaces.

Wildfire Smoke & Indoor Air Protection This resource outlines steps to protect students and staff during wildfire smoke events, including strategies for reducing smoke infiltration, creating clean air rooms, and using portable HEPA filtration effectively. Schools can use these recommendations to prepare for and respond to smoke‑impacted days.

Expanded Learning, Professional Supports, and Program Resources

California AfterSchool Network (CAN) connects educators, youth‑serving professionals, and school communities with tools to build high‑quality out‑of‑school time programs across the state. CAN provides resources, statewide initiatives, trainings, and best‑practice guidance to help expand access to enriching before‑school, after‑school, and summer learning opportunities that support whole‑child development. Families, schools, and partners can explore program quality standards, newsletters, funding updates, and professional learning opportunities through the CAN website.

National Summer Learning Association’s Knowledge Center offers a wide collection of evidence‑based tools, reports, and practical resources to help educators, youth‑serving professionals, and community partners strengthen summer learning programs. The site features research publications, planning guides, policy updates, family engagement materials, and ready‑to‑use strategies to support high‑quality, equitable summer enrichment opportunities for young people.

Resources For Youth

Health, Behavioral Health, and Crisis Support

American Diabetes Association’s Youth & Family Corner provides supportive resources to help families navigate diabetes in childhood and adolescence. The site offers educational materials, personal stories, expert guidance, and connections to programs like American Diabetes Association Camps and local family events. Families can access practical tools, community support, and reliable information to help children and teens living with diabetes thrive.

California Youth Crisis Line (CYCL) is a vital resource for the young people you support. Youth ages 12–24 can call or text 1-800-843-5200 any time for free, confidential help. Trained counselors listen without judgment and support youth through stress, conflict, identity questions, safety concerns, and mental health challenges. CYCL also connects young people to local services so they never have to face tough moments alone.

Mirror is a powerful journaling app designed to provide a secure, private space for youth to write freely, explore their emotions, and develop self-awareness without fear of external judgment or criticism.

Never a Bother Launched in 2024 by CDPH’s Office of Suicide Prevention, helps prevent suicide and self-harm among California youth. Resources are free for teens, young adults, friends, families, schools, and community partners who support youth well-being. The message is simple: you can always reach out for help, and others can always reach out to you—because you’re never a bother.

Soluna App California’s mental health app designed for ages 13–25, offering emotional health resources. Completely free and confidential for California teens and young adults.  

Take Space to Pause has resources to help youth understand what’s happening in their body as emotions like anxiety, anger, and sadness build up. The site guides teens in spotting signs of stress, learning how their stress response works, and building a personalized Pause Plan to activate their calming system before reaching a breaking point.

The Trevor Project provides free, confidential, 24/7 crisis support for LGBTQ+ young people, offering phone, text, and chat services for those experiencing emotional distress, identity-based challenges, or thoughts of suicide. Their mission is to end suicide among LGBTQ+ youth and ensure every young person has access to affirming, life‑saving support. Reach out anytime by calling 1‑866‑488‑7386, texting START to 678‑678, or start a chat on their website.

Trans Lifeline (877) 565-8860 is a peer‑run, confidential crisis and support hotline offering emotional support to transgender and gender‑nonconforming people. Calls are answered by trained trans peer‑counselors, providing affirming, community‑based care without nonconsensual emergency intervention. The hotline operates daily, with bilingual support available in Spanish.

Toolkit for Unaccompanied Minors (available in English and Spanish) helps newcomer youth enroll in school, access healthcare, and connect with essential resources. Designed for young people arriving in the U.S. without their parents, it also supports the adults and organizations guiding them.

Thank you!

A special thank you to Office of School Health partners and student health champions! Lastly, we want to thank YOU for being a champion of student health!

To explore more school health resources, visit the Office of School Health Hub. Not finding what you need? Email our team directly at [email protected].

The Office of School Health wishes you a safe and restful summer break!