Communities That Care

Posted on July 21, 2008

CTC Director in Washington, D.C.

Dalene Dutton, the Executive Director of Five Town Communities That Care, spoke to leaders from the National Institute On Drug Abuse, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Prevention Network in Bethesda, M.D. on July 16th.  

Ms. Dutton was invited to speak to the group about implementation of the Communities That Care system in the five-town community of Appleton, Camden, Hope, Lincolnville, and Rockport, Maine since 2003.  At the same meeting, Dr. J. David Hawkins of the University of Washington shared the latest findings from the Community Youth Development Study, which is a high-quality research trial of the effectiveness of the Communities That Care system in seven states across the U.S.  The five town community is one of twenty-four communities being followed in the study.

Ms. Dutton was asked to share local successes with the Communities That Care (CTC) system, and to answer questions about using the comprehensive, data-driven approach to promote healthy youth development in a relatively small community.   These successes include increased use of data systems to make decisions about youth programming, increased understanding of prevention science in the community, increased use of proven programs and strategies, positive effects on predictors of problem adolescent behavior, and promising trends in substance abuse and antisocial behaviors.

Early findings from the Community Youth Development study comparing the 12 CTC communities with the 12 control communities—who are engaging in prevention work but not using the CTC system— are encouraging.  After only three years of implementation, CTC communities had lower rates of risk factors for problem adolescent behaviors and delayed onset of delinquent behaviors.  Data for the next year of the study should be available soon.

To learn more about the Communities That Care system, the Community Youth Development Study, or Five Town Communities That Care, you may contact Dalene Dutton at (207) 236-9800 or dalene@fivetownctc.org.

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