Communities That Care® Works!

More than 400 communities around the country have successfully implemented the Communities That Care operating system.Communities That Care is effective because it is:
       •   Collaborative,
       •   Grounded in theory,
       •   Informed by data, and
       •   Tailored to specific communities.

CTCARE supports academic achievement and school transformation by reducing problem behaviors that prevent children from learning effectively. It also ensures that funding is well spent because all programs, strategies, and interventions implemented are then monitored for effectiveness – to ensure that the desired outcomes are achieved.

"If we are going to help our children grow into healthy, whole adults, we have to engage the entire community."
-Michele Ridge, Communities That Care Spokesperson,
Channing Bete Company, The Communities That Care Mode

The Communities That Care model is based on successful Public Health interventions. Health conditions such as heart disease, breast cancer, and drunk driving have all been addressed by involving the entire community to promote behavior change. The CTCARE model builds on the success of these interventions by promoting a community-wide approach to effecting positive youth development. CTCARE recognizes that no single entity can ensure the positive development of all of a community’s young people. In the same way that certain risk factors are predictors of physical health problems, there are risk factors that are predictors for problem behaviors.

The Theory Behind Communities That Care

CTCARE is based upon the Social Development Strategy which suggests that young people develop healthy, positive behaviors when immersed in environments that:

       •   Consistently communicate healthy beliefs and clear standards for behavior,

       •   Foster the development of strong bonds to those who hold healthy beliefs in
           their families, schools, and communities,

       •   Recognize the individual characteristics of each young person.

Protective bonds are created when there are opportunities for young people to be involved in their families, schools, and communities. For young people to take advantage to these opportunities, they must posses a compliment of social, emotional, and behavioral skills. Finally, young people need to be recognized for their positive involvement and provided with corrective feedback when their performance is not consistent with behavior standards.

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Communities That Care and Community Involvement

The Communities That Care operating system is designed to engage the entire community in implementing the Social Development Strategy to improve children’s lives. CTCARE helps communities to organize and involve all community members who have a stake in healthy futures for young people.

Community-specific data is collected by surveying local youth to identify the most prevalent risk and protective factors. With data in hand, schools and communities can begin prioritizing strategies and interventions that enhance protective and reduce risk factors specific to the needs of their youth.

Once a community has prioritized the protective factors they want to enhance and the risk factors they want to reduce, they then implement tested effective programs designed to enhance specific protective factors and reduce specific risk factors. This allows communities use data about the youth in their communities and reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors in a systematic and targeted way. In other communities that have implemented the CTCARE operating system, they have seen more funding for youth services, fewer failing grades, reduced delinquency, and reduce juvenile violent crime.