|
  
Communities
That Care
Caring
Communities
All across our state,
adults concerned about the healthy development of young people are searching for
answers to the problems of substance abuse, delinquency, violence, teen
pregnancy and school dropout. Many of our efforts to address these issues have
focused on responding to problems one they have become apparent. It is as if we
have been providing an expensive ambulance at the bottom of a cliff to pick up
the young people who fall off, rather than building a fence at the top to keep
them from falling off in the first place.
The Regional
Prevention Centers of Kansas are working to build that fence. They’re committed
to a vision of change for their communities—a vision where children are healthy
and able to reach their fullest potential. Communities where all children are
safe, connected to others and supported by a web of concerned parents and adults
who share responsibility for nurturing and supporting Kansas children and youth.
In other words, they are supporting Kansas Communities That Care.
Kansas
Communities That Care is a community mobilization program that assists
individuals, families, organizations and policy makers concerned about the
healthy development of young people to work together to prevent adolescent
health and behavior problems.
There are three phases:
1. Introduce
and Involve
The community mobilization process begins with:
I. analyzing Kansas risk and
protective factor community profiles;
II. defining and targeting communities and
neighborhoods for action;
III. educating and involving key community leaders
affecting all the areas of young people’s lives;
IV. building or joining a
community prevention board that serves as the ongoing working group.
2.
Risk and Resource Assessment
This phase involves:
I. analyzing and/or collecting data about the levels of
community risks;
II. prioritizing risk for attention;
III. identifying and
evaluating existing programs for their effectiveness in addressing these risks
and enhancing key protective factors.
3.
Implement and Evaluate Promise Approaches
Based on the risk and
resource assessment, research-based programs are selected that address risk and
protective factors and targeted outcomes. The Regional Prevention Centers
educate community members about risk and protective factors, and then assist
them in identifying and prioritizing risks. They then facilitate a community
planning process to develop actions that reduce risks and increase protection
insuring the healthy development of youth. The Centers also deliver more
intensive technical assistance and training services for youth and families
living in high-risk environments.
Building On A
Strong Foundation
The Regional Prevention
Centers assist communities in building the capacity to address youth, health and
behavior problems through available state resources:
-
A prevention
management information outcome system that collects and analyzes risk and
protective factor data at all levels for program and policy planning,
evaluation and public education purposes.
-
Training and technical
assistance services to increase the skills, knowledge and the capacity of
professionals to more effectively respond to the diverse needs of Kansas
youth, families and communities.
-
A Kansas Communities
That Care Evaluation Program that tracks and evaluates best practices and
promising program approaches at all levels.
-
A Kansas Resource
Clearinghouse that links communities with international, national and state
information funding opportunities, program models, media campaigns and other
resources.
| 
