Communities That Care hopes to get more people involved.

At its meeting July 1 in Whitehall, members discussed topics such as social development strategy reports, milestone and benchmarks and targeted risk and protective factors for the community. In order for the mission to succeed, more people need to buy in, representatives said.

"I have been an advocate of the CTC program since it was brought to my attention several years ago," said Whitehall Township Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr., a member of CTC. "Now that we have identified our risk factors it is now time to begin the implementation of steps to reduce those risk factors in our community"

Communities That Care, or CTC, is an operating system that takes communities through a well-defined and structured process to prevent adolescent problem behavior and promote positive youth development.

The CTC is funded by a grant acquired through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. It has been funded for two years to work in Whitehall, Coplay and Salisbury township.

CTC engages all aspects of the community, including schools, youth-serving organizations, law enforcement, government, faith-based organizations, businesses, human services, youth and residents.

"There are five phases of the CTC: first getting started, second is organizing, introducing and involving the community," said Denise Continenza, CTC coordinator. "Third phase is developing a community profile.

"We are now at the fourth phase, which is creating a community action plan, known as CAP. Phase five is implementing and evaluating the CAP.

"The coalition is composed of committees with specific functions, such as data analysis, community resource assessment, sustainability, public relations and or media, program development and youth engagement."

The first step was the administration of a confidential survey to the youth in grades six, eight, 10 and 12 in the Whitehall-Coplay School District. Known as PAYS (Pennsylvania Youth Survey), this was done in both November 2012 and November 2013 The report generated indicates the strengths as well as the challenges of our community as seen through the eyes of the young people.

"The PAYS is based on a survey that came out of Washington State. There is extensive research on what makes factors in a young persons environment most likely to lead a positive outcome and what factors put them at risk," said Continenza. "Risk factors are the aspects of a young person's life that increase the likelihood of negative outcomes and protective factors are those aspects of a young person's life that increase the likelihood of positive outcomes."

Based on the PAYS report and other data sources, the Whitehall-Coplay CTC has identified three priority risk and protective factors: low perceived risk of drug use among youth, parental attitudes favorable to anti-social behavior and community opportunities for pro social involvement.

"I have been a part of this group from the beginning, we need to take the time to find the their strengths and challenges, take a step back and understand to best address their needs, family, youths and community as a whole," said Phyllis Law, community care consultant with EPISCenter at Penn State. "Its not about looking at the who, but the why our kids are faced with problems such as mental health issues. "

The CTC model works to implement programs, policies and practices that increase protection for youth and reduce risks. One way of doing this is to implement evidence based prevention programs. These programs are based on extensive scientific research that demonstrates their effectiveness.

"The cost for training, materials to do an evidence-based program may be high, but the cost benefit is good. It tends to pay for itself," said speaker Janet Welsh, Ph.D., a research assistant with the Pennsylvania State University.