Mission, Vision, and Goals

Mission:

Communities That Care of Lorain County is a strong partnership within the community to help our youth face the many challeges ahead of them including substance abuse.

We VISION a community that:

• Promotes strong families
• Fosters collaboration between school and communities
• Supports positive youth development
• Works to reduce problem behaviors
  

Goal One:

Establish and Strengthen collaboration among communities including schools, private non profit organizations and government entities to support the efforts of Communites That Care Lorain County to Prevent and reduce substance use among youth

Goal Two:

Reduce substance abuse among youth, and over time, among adults by addressing factors ina community that increase the risk of substance abuse and promoting factors that minimize the risk of substance abuse.

Protective factors can buffer young people from risks and promote positive youth development. Protective factors include individual characteristics (gender, resilient and outgoing temperament and intelligence), healthy beliefs and clear standards and bonding. Research has also identified protective process that build strong bonds between young people and adults in their lives and promote positive youth development. They include providing opportunities for involvement, fostering skills, and offering recognition for meaningful involvement and contributions. In Lorain County, the following protective factors have been found to be most lacking (using 2009 data findings)

• Community Opportunities for Positive (Prosocial) Involvement
• Religiosity
• Community Rewards for Positive (Prosocial) Involvement

Prioritized Risk Factors:

Research has identified, through multiple longitudinal studies, twenty reliable predictors of adolescent substance abuse, delinquency, teen pregnancy, school dropout, depression and anxiety.  Idenfifying and understanding risk factors aids communities in preventing problem behaviors.  In Lorain County, the following risk factors have been identified (using 2009 data findings):

• Community Disorganization

• Transitions and Mobility

• Low Neighborhood Attachment

• Parental Attitudes Favorable toward Antisocial Behavior

• Academic Failure

• Friends Delinquent Behavior

Recipe For Success

Click Picture to download PDF of our Recipe for Success