CTC is a coalition-based community prevention operating system that uses a public health approach to prevent youth problem behaviors such as violence, delinquency, school drop out and substance abuse.

Ultimately, the beneficiaries of CTC are children of any age in the community. CTC guides decision makers in a community coalition through an assessment and prioritization process that identifies the risk and protective factors most in need of attention, and links those priorities to prevention programs that are proven to work in addressing them.

CTC activities are planned and carried out by the CTC Community Board, a prevention coalition of community stakeholders who work together to promote positive youth outcomes. Board members participate in a series of six CTC training workshops in which they build their coalition and learn the skills needed to install the CTC system. 

Communities That Care is installed in a community through a five-phase process implemented over a 1-2 year period:

1. Get Started—assesses community readiness to undertake collaborative prevention efforts.
2. Get Organized—gets a commitment to the CTC process from community leaders and forming a diverse and representative prevention coalition.
3. Develop a Profile—uses epidemiologic data to assess prevention needs.
4. Create a Plan—chooses tested and effective prevention policies, practices, and programs based on assessment data.
5. Implement and Evaluate—implements the new strategies with fidelity, in a manner congruent with the programs’ theory, content, and methods of delivery, and evaluating progress over time.

1. Community coalition of key stakeholders concerned with the health and well-being of the community’s youth
2. Community coordinator, preferably full-time devoted to CTC but at minimum half time
3. Series of 6 CTC trainings (all materials are available on the CSAP webpage free of charge)
4. Certified CTC trainers to conduct the trainings
5. CTC Youth Survey, administered at least every two years for students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12, to learn directly from the youth themselves about risk factors, protective factors, and youth behaviors

Drug Czar, Top Federal Experts Use Virtual Town Hall Event to Announce Success of Major Community Based Drug Prevention Effort This webcast was streamed live September 9th, 2009 to announce findings from the latest science-based approaches to drug abuse prevention, with a focus on the Communities That Care (CTC) system. To view the archived webcast Click Here. Also, check out the ABC NEWS feature on Communities That Care posted September 7th, 2009 Click Here.

Results from a 7-state experimental trial involving 24 communities show that within 4 years of adopting the CTC system, community coalitions can reduce the incidence of delinquent behaviors and of alcohol, tobacco, and smokeless tobacco use as well as the prevalence of alcohol use, binge drinking, smokeless tobacco use, and delinquent behavior among young people community wide by the spring of grade 8.

• Exposure to targeted risk factors increased less rapidly in CTC than in control communities.

• Initiation of substance use and delinquency: During 8th grade, compared to students in the control communities, students from CTC communities were:
1. 25% less likely to initiate delinquent behavior
2. 32% less likely to initiate the use of alcohol
3. 33% less likely to initiate cigarette use
4. 33% less likely to initiate the use of smokeless tobacco

• Substance use:   By 8th grade, compared to students in the control communities, students from CTC communities were:
1. 23% less likely to use alcohol in the past 30 days
2. 48% less likely to use smokeless tobacco in the past 30 days
3. 37% less likely to have engaged in binge drinking in the past two weeks

• Delinquent behaviors:  In 8th grade, students from CTC communities committed 31% fewer  different delinquent behaviors than students in the control communities.

All CTC training materials are available for download free of charge from CSAP's Prevention Platform . Installing the CTC system requires an on-site community coordinator to manage the CTC coalition; administration, analysis and reporting of the CTC Youth Survey; and trainer costs for the six CTC trainings. Additionally, the costs of the prevention programs selected for implementation through the CTC process are needed.