Communities That Care

Posted on October 25, 2011

Five Town CTC Honors Youth Advocates at October Meeting

Five Town Communities That Care is pleased to announce the most recent winners of its Youth Advocate Awards.  At the October 6, 2011 Five Town CTC Coalition Network Meeting Board Chair Dick Strong presented Andrew Lesmerises with an individual award for his service to local youth.

Andrew Lesmerises (right) accepts his Youth Advocate award from Five Town CTC Board Chair Dick Strong

Mr. Lesmerises has been supporting local young people by providing opportunities to learn mixed martial arts and by mentoring them through life’s challenges.

Also honored at the meeting was the Camden-Rockport Animal Rescue League, with Lisa Dresser accepting the award on behalf of the organization.  CRARL has partnered with Five Town CTC for several years by offering “Animal Antics” classes through the STAR after school program.

Shelter Director Laura Stupca (left) and Administrative Director Lisa Dresser with the Youth Advocate Award.

The Five Town CTC Coalition honors Youth Advocates quarterly.  Selection of nominees to receive the Youth Advocate Award is to be based on one or more of the following criteria:

1) Involved in reducing problem adolescent behaviors (such as substance abuse, suicide, violence, delinquency, school drop-out, and teen pregnancy) among our local youth.

2) Involved in reducing Five Town CTC priority risk factors in the local community.

3) Involved in promoting Five Town CTC priority protective factors in the local community.

4) Fostering increased collaboration and cooperation amongst youth-serving agencies, groups, and businesses in the local community.

5) Fostering improved communication between local youth and their community—including between youth and adults, and between youth and their peers.

6) Providing opportunities for area youth to learn new skills that they can use in service to their community.

If you know of an individual or organization fitting the criteria above please nominate them for the awards.  Nominations can be submitted by emailing the candidate’s name and contact info, along with a statement of why you feel they should receive the award to info@fivetownctc.org.

Five Town CTC has been working since 2003 to promote healthy youth development and to reduce the incidence of problem adolescent problem behaviors such as substance abuse, suicide, violence, delinquency, school drop-out, and teen pregnancy.  The organization provides direct service programming, support for other agencies providing prevention programming, public information, training, and technical assistance related to its mission.  For more information about Five Town CTC, visit www.fivetownctc.org, email info@fivetownctc.org, call 207-236-9800, or stop by the offices at 219 Meadow Street in Rockport.

Posted on October 7, 2011

What Does Bullying Look Like?

SOUND OFF, A Monthly Feature, Seeks Original Artwork and Writing From Teens On This Topic

Sponsored by Five Town Communities That Care (FTCTC), SOUND OFF is looking for submissions for its October issue around the subject of bullying. Bullying is a national priority and a local concern. We suspect many adults may not be aware of what “bullying” looks like or how it impacts youth in today’s world.  The October issue of SOUND OFF is a chance for local teens to vocalize what they see, hear, and feel by submitting their creative work.

SOUND OFF will accept poetry, short fiction, blogs, journal entries, lyrics, cartoons, photography and original artwork from Five Town area teens in Appleton, Hope, Camden, Rockport and Lincolnville. SOUND OFF will also accept examples of text/digital exchanges that exemplify cyberbullying, as long as real names are left off.  Please only submit representations of bullying, rather than photos or other examples of persons actually being mistreated! Submissions may be published under anonymous pseudonyms.

Educators and community leaders are encouraged to be the liaison with the editor, Kay Stephens, who works personally with the teens.  The feature is also open to individual teenagers who want to submit work on their own (with parental permission). All submissions will be reviewed by the FTCTC board and edited by Stephens.

To submit, email editor@fivetownctc.org, call (207) 236-9800 or mail to: Five Town Communities That Care, P.O. Box 1135, 219 Meadow Street, Rockport, ME 04856. Please include a real name and a phone number so Stephens can get in touch with you for editing purposes.

The mission of Five Town Communities That Care is to promote healthy youth development and to prevent problem adolescent behaviors such as substance abuse, suicide, violence, delinquency, school drop-out, and teen pregnancy. We also seek to foster increased collaboration and cooperation in communities in order to best serve the needs of their youth. SOUND OFF has given middle school and high school teens in Appleton, Hope, Camden, Rockport and Lincolnville a platform through their creative work and for adults to appreciate what’s meaningful to them.  It is published in both print and online format.

Posted on October 4, 2011

Guiding Good Choices Starts November 1st!

The next cycle of Guiding Good Choices is set to begin on November 1st! Registration forms have details on all workshop dates and are due by October 18th.  Visit our GGC page (http://www.fivetownctc.org/programs/guiding-good-choices) or call 207-236-9800 for more information.

Posted on October 2, 2011

Five Town CTC Director Named to Fed Advisory Committee

Five Town Communities That Care is pleased to announce that its Executive Director, Dalene Dutton, has been named to the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice (FACJJ). The two-year appointment was made by Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Administrator Jeff Slowikowski.

The FACJJ is comprised of 14 representatives from the nation’s State Advisory Groups on Juvenile Justice and advises the President and Congress on matters related to juvenile justice. FACJJ members also evaluate federal juvenile justice activities and projects, and advise the OJJDP Administrator on the work of OJJDP.    Ms. Dutton will serve as the representative for Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming (rural, northern states).  She will assume an essential role in conveying the perspectives of these states’ Juvenile Justice Advisory Groups to the President, Congress, and OJJDP.

“The charge of providing advice on matters relating to juvenile justice is challenging and critical,” wrote Slowikowski, in a recent letter to Dutton. “We at OJJDP are committed to strengthening communication with the field and ensuring greater transparency in our work. We look forward to a continued partnership with the FACJJ in its efforts to advise the President, Congress, and our office.”

Ms. Dutton was appointed to Maine’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Group in 2008 by Governor John Baldacci.  A former science teacher at Camden Hills Regional High School, she has been working in the field of prevention since 2003 when she began serving as a community coordinator for the Community Youth Development Study—an experimental test of the CTC prevention planning system. Dutton has presented at numerous national conferences dealing with substance abuse and violence prevention.  She has served on expert panels for the Johns Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence, the National Research Council, and the National Institutes on Health (NIH). Dutton has contributed to several mental health and addictions‐focused publications, including National Council Magazine and NIDA Notes.

Regarding her FACJJ appointment Dutton stated, “I feel that it is vitally important that voices from the field are heard by those setting policy. I am looking forward to the opportunity to listen to the perspectives of others from across the nation and to be able to offer the perspective of those who live in rural states. I am honored to have received this opportunity to serve and to become a more informed advocate as we continue our work here in the community.”

Five Town Communities That Care takes a community‐based approach to promoting healthy youth development in the towns of Appleton, Camden, Hope, Lincolnville, and Rockport. The Communities That Care (CTC) system is a data‐driven way to mobilize communities to address the predictors of problem adolescent behavior with programs, policies, and practices that have been proven to work.  Recent studies on CTC have shown impressive outcomes related to the reduction of violence and delinquency, as well as initiation of cigarette and alcohol use. For more information about Five Town Communities That Care, visit www.fivetownctc.org or call 207‐236‐9800.