About us
The Communities That Care Coalition was formed in 2002 in Franklin County, Massachusetts, when a group of community members came together to address alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use among local youth. CTC provides a structure for community members to coordinate their work around a common data-driven and evidence-based plan. We use data about the status of local young people to identify needs and measure the success of programs. And CTC stays current with prevention research and selects strategies that have been proven effective in reducing risky youth behaviors.
Join our mailing list – you can sign up to get info about all-coalition events or get involved with one or more of our workgroups. We don’t send many emails or share your information!
Our values and approach
Integrity * Collaboration * Connection * Community-Building * Collective Power * Youth as Leaders
- We value young people as whole beings. We promote positive youth development and seek strategies that connect and empower young people.
- We strive to build connections among youth, families, schools, and communities. We believe that connected young people are healthy young people. And we recognize that complex social issues require the collective and coordinated efforts of many different people and agencies.
- We value lived experience and seek community input, engagement, and leadership.
- We look for approaches that research has shown to be effective, strategies that are appropriate to our region, and efforts that are based on current local data.
- We use a public health model and address the underlying risk factors and protective factors that influence health outcomes.
- We recognize that young people make choices in an environment shaped by their families, peers, schools, communities, and culture. As a coalition, we strive to create policies, systems, and environments that make healthy choices easy for all. We work for positive change in the environment in which young people live, learn, work, and play, and we advocate for policy change at the local, state, and national levels in order to achieve sustainable impact.
- We recognize that young people make choices in an environment shaped by their families, peers, schools, communities, and culture. As a coalition, we strive to create policies, systems, and environments that make healthy choices easy for all. We work for positive change in the environment in which young people live, learn, work, and play, we promote positive social norms, and we advocate for policy change at the local, state, and national levels in order to achieve sustainable impact.
Our vision
The Communities That Care Coalition’s vision is for Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region to be a place where all young people can thrive.
Our mission
The Communities That Care Coalition’s mission is to bring together schools, families, youth, young adults, and the community to improve health and well-being for all youth.
What we do
CTC maintains a Community Action Plan that identifies goals and objectives, priority areas for work, and strategies and programs to address those areas. The many members of our coalition have helped to create this Action Plan, which is updated regularly.
CTC works closely with other area coalitions including the P.A.R.T. Task Force of the North Quabbin Community Coalition, the Opioid Task Force and more.
Our structure
CTC is co-hosted by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments and Community Action Pioneer Valley, and has representation from local government, businesses, schools, law enforcement, faith-based organizations, media, hospitals, service providers, parents and youth. CTC’s Coordinating Council, which functions as the decision-making body for the coalition, includes leaders from each of these sectors of the community. The day-to-day work of the coalition is guided by workgroups and committees — the Regional Policy and Norms Workgroup, the Parent and Family Engagement Workgroup, the Regional School Health Task Force, the Grand Rising Workgroup, and the Youth Leadership Initiative. For more information on the coalition’s structure, see the CTC Organizational Chart in the Community Action Plan and CTC Principles of Operation.
Our successes
Over the decade of its existence, CTC has seen declines in local youth substance use and has received national recognition for its work. Find more on coalition successes here.