OUR MISSION is to unite all segments of the community to identify risks to youth in the community and to promote protective factors to reduce substance abuse, delinquency, violence, pregnancy and school dropout.
Putting together a puzzle requires all the pieces to fit together, starting with the frame and working inward with all the interlocking pieces until the puzzle takes shape and the picture emerges.
Raising healthy children requires all the pieces of their life to fit together as their individual picture emerges.
The puzzle pieces in the life of a child are family, community, friends and school. We must all work together to help our children succeed.
The Armstrong County Communities That Care initiative is about bringing all the puzzle pieces of a child's life together.
About CTC
Communities That Care (CTC) is a nationwide, research-based prevention initiative that tackles youth problems such as substance abuse, delinquency, pregnancy, violence and school dropout. It focuses on reducing risk factors that lead to the above-mentioned problem behaviors while increasing protective factors.
Risk factors are conditions that increase the risk of a young person becoming involved in one or more of the problem behaviors in adolescence.
Protective factors are the conditions that buffer children and youth from exposure to the risk, by either reducing the impact of the risks or changing the way the young person responds to the risk.
Armstrong County Communities That Care process was initiated in 1999. In the fall of 2000, CTC conducted a county-wide study of adolescent problems and identified the top five risk factors for our county. The most recent study was done in 2004. The top five risk factors of that study were:
- Availability of Drugs
- Favorable Parental Attitudes and Involvement in the Problem Behavior
- Friends Who Engage in the Problem Behavior
- Academic Failure Beginning in Late Elementary School
- Transitions and Mobility
You can find a complete copy of the 2004 Risk and Resource Assessment at http://www.airnetfrn.org
When CTC was started in 1999, the goal was to make a difference in the lives of Armstrong County youth. Making a difference in the lives of children and families begins with a vision. The vision of Armstrong County Communities That Care (CTC) is to create a healthy community that promotes competent, caring, responsible and healthy children and families. The vision is realized by measuring outcomes. The following document was designed to summarize the progress of Armstrong County CTC and the outcomes of programs created or supported by CTC for the period of 2001-2006.
Please click here to view the Review of Enrollment Data and Client Outcomes.
Working Together Gets Results
Some members from the Community Prevention Board are representatives from:
ARC Manor, Addiction Recovery Center
ARIN Intermediate Unit
Armstrong/Indiana Drug and Alcohol Commission
Armstrong County Probation
Armstrong School District
Armstrong County Sheriff's office
Belmont Complex
Children, Youth and Family Services
Elderton Primary Care Center
Family Resource Network
Family Counseling Center
Gary DeComo, District Justice
Harvest Community Church
HAVIN
Holy Family Social Services
Keystone Tall Tree Girl Scout Council, Inc.
Leader Times
Leechburg Area School District
Life Choices
Penn State Co-op
UPMC For You Health Insurance
United Way of Armstrong County
YMCA