Communities That Care

Overview

Communities That Care (CTC) is a proven approach to preventing youth violence, delinquency and drug use, and promoting positive youth development and strong families. The strength of the CTC model lies in its foundation in decades of research on the underlying causes of youth crime. This research has identified a number of specific risk factors that are associated with youth problem behaviors.

CTC utilizes a comprehensive process that brings members of the community together to evaluate community-wide data, identify and prioritize risk factors, and implement evidence-based (i.e. proven-effective) programs aimed at reducing risk factors and ultimately improving youth outcomes. The benefits of the CTC model for community prevention planning include:
• Greater community collaboration and ownership of prevention activities.
• More strategic allocation of scarce prevention resources.
• Increased focus on quality of program delivery, and on outcomes and accountability.
• Reduced duplication and fragmentation of resources and services.
• Reduced interagency competition.
• Improve sustainability of programs and strategies.

Fulton County Communities That Care

In January 2010, Fulton County received the Communities That Care grant. This grant allowed community leaders to participate in 6 trainings at which Risk and Protective Factors and Problem Behaviors in the community were identified. The risk factors include: Laws and Norms Favorable to Drug Use and Parental Attitude's Favorable to Alcohol, Tobacco, and other Drugs. The protective factor identified is Pro Social Family Involvement while the problem behavior identified is Bullying.

In 2011, Fulton County CTC received funding to implement the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) in two school districts, while at the same time continue enhancement with the Central Fulton OBPP. As of February 2012, all three school districts are currently fully implementing the OBPP.

During 2012, we are continually working on Fulton County's Strategic Plan to improve the services that positively impact the risk and protective factor previously identified through the CTC model.

For more information on this program please contact Tiea Sharer, CTC Mobilizer at 717-485-6767 ext. 203.