Posted May 6, 2011 9:41 a.m.

Contact: Dennise Hill, CTC Mobilizer 717-233-4330 x18 dhill@cis-pa.org

For Immediate Release May 4, 2010

COMMUNITIES THAT CARE KICKS OFF IN THE CAPITAL REGION

HARRISBURG, PA – May 4, 2011— Community leaders from Harrisburg, Steelton, and Highspire Communities came together on Monday to discuss the new Communities That Care initiative: an evidence-based prevention initiative funded by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Key Leaders in attendance represented such agencies as: Dauphin County Commissioners, District Attorney’s Office, both school districts and various agencies that work to improve the lives of students in the Capital Region. Commissioner George Hartwick pledged his support to the initiative, as it coincides with the hard work that Dauphin County continues to put forth with the Integrated Human Services Plan.

The local initiative brings together community resources for collaboration in order to make decisions through use of data indicating community strengths and areas of risk to positive youth development. And as Kim Nelson, Program Manager of PCCD noted, “Who best make these decisions for the community than the people who live, work and serve in the community.” The communities included in the initiative are: Allison Hill, Bellvue Park, Camp Curtin, Capital Heights, Downtown, East Harrisburg, Highspire, Italian Lake, Midtown, Shipoke, South Harrisburg, Steelton and Uptown.

The role of the Key Leaders will be to work together to see how each of their agencies can collaborate and further support programs that are currently in place to serve families in the target area. Additionally, they will assess how to fill any gaps in services. Dr. Sybil Knight-Burney, Harrisburg School District Superintendent stated, “We can’t continue to think that problems faced in our homes and communities will disappear when a child walks through the doors of a school or into a classroom. The problems that our youth encounter are problems that we, the community at large, must solve together.”

This assessment will use data from the Pennsylvania Youth Survey, which is a comprehensive questionnaire used in over 200 districts across the Commonwealth to gauge youth knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes towards alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, violence, and other problem areas. Communities That Care is an operating system used to mobilize communities and agency resources. CTC brings together community groups to reduce youth problem behaviors such as violence, drug and alcohol use, teenage pregnancy, school dropout and delinquency, and to promote positive youth development.

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