Whitehall, Coplay and Salisbury are joining the ranks of Communities That Care.

"It's an operating system for bringing a community together," said Denise Continenza, CTC coordinator, addressing members of the Whitehall Township Crime Watch Monday night.

Continenza is a family and consumer science educator with the Penn State Extension Service. In that role, she has helped to take research and bring it down to a meaningful level for classes offered to individuals looking for help with family issues.

"One of the things that has been found to be very successful, based on the research, is this model called Communities That Care," she said. "We're the only state that has such a model, a formal model, and that's actually supported by the state government."

Continenza's involvement with Communities That Care grew out of a 10-year project with the Salisbury School District which was designed to help youth make life decisions and avoid drugs, alcohol and other negative behaviors.

When the funding came to an end, Salisbury didn't want to abandon it. Because public entities such as Penn State Extension are not eligible for these grants, the Center for Humanistic Change stepped in, Continenza said. The center, a Lehigh Valley based drug and alcohol prevention agency, successfully applied for a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The grant provided startup money for a Communities That Care program in Salisbury and to expand it into another area.

"We talked to different school superintendents and different communities to see who shared this vision of pulling people together to really systematically bring in strategies for keeping the youth on the right track and not making poor decisions," Continenza said. "Whitehall was amazing."

Continenza praised officials with the Whitehall-Coplay School District as well as Whitehall Township and Coplay Borough for embracing the concept.

"The moment I heard about the program from Denise Continenza, I knew that this is what the entire Whitehall Community needs at this time," said Whitehall Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr. "What's exciting about this program is that we have an opportunity to change the life path of many children in our community."

"I think it's a good program. We should try to follow through with it," said Coplay Mayor Joseph Bundra at a recent Coplay Borough Council meeting.

The program's initial step was to get information directly from area youth in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 through the Pennsylvania Youth Survey. Whitehall students completed the survey in November. Salisbury students completed it in February.

The survey includes 90 questions designed to assess how youth feel about their community, school, grades and family life and asks them how they spend their time. Reports will be issued on the results.

"This is really a way of looking at the community from the perspective of the youth themselves," Continenza said. "We're dying to see what they're going to tell us, because a lot of times, we as adults, we think we know what's good. And we think we're doing a great job. And they really think we're not."

The Communities That Care program will focus on what is already being done well and then select one or two areas for improvement.

"What it is not going to be is headlines," she said outside the Crime Watch meeting.

The idea is not to announce that the surveys revealed a multitude of problems but rather to work on correcting one or two issues. For example, if the surveys reveal youth don't believe there's enough to do in their neighborhoods, CTC would work on creating opportunities for recreation, Continenza said.

Of course, that requires manpower. Continenza is actively recruiting volunteers to serve on various committees. People are needed to oversee the program at a broad level and others are needed to work more closely with their own communities. Volunteers may be as active as they wish. Those who wish to perform only limited roles are welcome to do so, she said.

Volunteers might, for example, contact area faith-based communities such as churches to find out if they recognize youth in their Sunday bulletins and to suggest they start if they are not already doing so.

"Kids thrive on recognition," Continenza said. "When kids are recognized for positive behavior, they typically repeat it." Likewise, if they receive attention for negative behaviors such as getting arrested or being repeatedly sent to the principal's office, they will repeat those behaviors.

Among the volunteers will be a group of youth who will advise the program leaders on how to address issues in a way that meets the needs of people their age, she said.

Several studies have documented the positive results of the Communities That Care model. For example, communities using it have experienced an 11-percent reduction in negative youth behavior and 33 percent higher academic achievement.

"The data speaks for itself and schools really like that," Continenza said. "And what the schools also like is the fact that we're not saying, 'We're going to tell you what you need to do now.' The kids only spend six or seven hours a day in school. The rest of the time they're in their communities, they're with their families. So this is a partnership."

Communities That Care will introduce the program to the public 3-5 p.m. March 12. The event will take place at the Community Services Center conference room at Lehigh Carbon Community College, Schnecksville.

Anyone interested in volunteering or in attending the event is asked to reserve a spot by March 4 by contacting Continenza at 610-391-9840 or by emailing dhc128@psu.edu.