Community Projects

Community Youth Development Study

The Community Youth Development Study is a 5-year intervention study designed to determine the effectiveness of the Communities That Care ® (CTC) system in promoting healthy youth development and reducing levels of youth drug use, violence, delinquency, teenage pregnancy, and school drop out. CTC is a strategic framework for planning and managing prevention activities at the community level. It endorses the use of community-specific data on risk and protective factors to guide the selection of science-based prevention programs.

The study is a collaborative effort between SDRG and the state prevention or substance abuse agencies in seven states (Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Oregon, Utah, and Washington). Twenty-four communities in these states were randomly assigned to receive training and technical assistance in CTC, or to act as control communities who will continue to implement their current prevention system. SDRG will monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the CTC process in the experimental communities through ongoing communication with local coordinators, surveys of adolescents in grades 6 through 12, and interviews of local key leaders and service providers regarding their prevention activities. A longitudinal panel survey of the Class of 2011 will also be conducted each year of the study in order to obtain information on changes in risk factors, protective factors, and youth behaviors.

Start Date: 2003
PI: J. David Hawkins
Co-PI: Richard F. Catalano
Funding: National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institute of Mental Health; National Cancer Institute; National Institute on Child Health and Human Development; Center for Substance Abuse Prevention

CYDS Publications

This project is developing a book that will weave together stories and science to tell what we know about the development of aggression and violence, drug abuse and teen pregnancy, and how families, schools and communities can prevent these problems and promote healthy development. This book will describe what community leaders can do to reinvent their communities as healthy environments for human development.

Start Date: 1999
PI: J. David Hawkins
Funding: Bruce and Jolene McCaw Foundation