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Communities that Care

In 2009, Youth First, Inc. was awarded a Communities That Care grant for implementation in Warrick County.   Through the work of Youth First, other area organizations and community members, the Warrick County Communities That Care coalition (WCCTCC) was formed to support healthy youth development and prevent problem behaviors such as substance abuse, delinquency, school dropouts, teen pregnancy, depression, and violence. Currently there are 14 CTC communities in Indiana with the plans for this process to be statewide.

Over two dozen organizations, schools, churches, and businesses have joined together with parents and youth to launch the Communities That Care (CTC) process, a nationally recognized approach to effective prevention.

A recently released five year study of the CTC model found that teens growing up in towns with this prevention system were 50% less likely to smoke cigarettes, 38% less likely to try alcohol, and 21% less likely to be involved with delinquent behavior by 10th grade.

Indiana’s Division of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA) supported the development of the CTC model in 14 counties and selected Youth First, Inc. to launch the initiative in Warrick County in partnership with Youth Service Bureau, Deaconess Cross Pointe, YMCA of Southwestern Indiana, Warrick County School Corporation, Warrick County Sheriff’s Department, and many others.

The Communities That Care process targets predictors of problem behaviors rather than waiting for the problems to occur. Each community uses data to identify its specific risk and protective factors and problem behaviors. Then the community develops a focused, long-range action plan that builds on existing services and fills gaps with new resources.  CTC emphasizes the selection of prevention programs that have strong scientific evidence demonstrating their effectiveness.

The Warrick County coalition reviewed the results of the 2010 Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) Survey of 6th-12th grade students and compared the local data with state and national averages. The ATOD survey is administered by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center at Indiana University. This and other data revealed that Warrick County youth are most impacted by the following risk factors:

• Interaction with Anti-social Peers: Even when young people come from well-managed families and do not have any other risk factors, spending time with friends who engage in problem behaviors greatly increases their risk of developing those behaviors, too.
  
  
• Family Conflict: Conflict between parents or caregivers and children appears to increase the risk of problem behaviors.
  
  
• Favorable Parental Attitudes toward the Problem Behavior: Parents’ attitudes and behaviors toward drugs, crime, and violent behavior influence the attitudes and behaviors of their children. If parents engage in this behavior, the children are at greater risk.

The coalition’s plan recommends six specific strategies:

• Project ALERT, a program for 7th and 8th graders that gives them insight, understanding, and skills to resist substance use.
  
  
• Strengthening Families, an afterschool program open to all families that builds stronger bonds and communication, enhances parenting skills, and equips youth to resist negative peer pressure.
  
  
• Family Connections, an intervention for at-risk families with youth ages of 15-18 who are at risk for suspension/expulsion or trying to return to school following a suspension/expulsion.
  
  
• Student Prevention Project, an initiative using school-based social workers employed by Youth First and the school corporation to provide a toolkit of programs and practices that reduce risk factors and promote protective factors in students.
  
  
• Parents Who Host the Most, Lose the Most and Social Norms Marketing, two public awareness campaigns that educate parents about the health and safety risks of serving alcohol at teen parties, increase awareness of and compliance with underage drinking laws, correct misperceptions about risky behaviors, reinforce positive parenting habits, and support the majority of students who make healthy choices.
  
  
• Community Service Directory, a list of available resources and services that will be distributed to families, youth, and other community members.

To find out more about the Warrick County Communities That Care Coalition go to: www.wcctcc.org