2018 · Study · English

Implementing the Communities That Care Prevention System: Challenges, Solutions, and Opportunities in an Urban Setting

Brady, S., Parker, C. J., Jeffries, E. F., Simpson, T., Brooke-Weiss, B. L., & Haggerty, K.

Brady, S., Parker, C. J., Jeffries, E. F., Simpson, T., Brooke-Weiss, B. L., & Haggerty, K. (2018). Implementing the Communities That Care Prevention System: Challenges, Solutions, and Opportunities in an Urban Setting. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 55(5), S70–S81. doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2018.05.019

Summary

Process evaluation of Communities That Care in an ethnically diverse urban community in the US Midwest. CTC had been refined and tested for over 25 years, mostly in small towns, before systematic urban evaluation began. To check whether the coalition's priorities matched the lived experience of Black families, the team ran in-depth surveys with 25 Black boys aged 8 to 14 and their caregivers (data 2014–2017, analysed 2017–2018). About 30% of the boys reported experiencing or perpetrating bullying at school, which supported the coalition's decision to fund social-skills and bullying-prevention programming. Other data argued for widening the action plan to family transitions and mobility: roughly a third of caregivers received welfare assistance and a third of families had moved in the previous year. The authors conclude that where residents have experienced historical and current inequities, an effective prevention plan may need to address structural as well as social determinants, a caution for European cities adapting CTC to disadvantaged neighbourhoods.