Communities That Care is a sequence, not a programme. Five phases take a community from a first conversation to a written action plan and on to measured results. Each phase has defined roles, concrete tasks and milestones that say when it is done. This page describes the work as it is actually done.
The five phases drawn in proportion to how long they usually take, the four points at which the key leaders are needed, and the survey that brings the community back to phase three every two years.
| Phase | Duration | Key leaders needed |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Assess readiness | 2–4 months | Commitment (step 4) |
| Phase 2: Get organised | 2–3 months | No decision point |
| Phase 3: Build a community profile | 4–6 months | Priorities (step 4) |
| Phase 4: Create an action plan | 3–4 months | Plan (step 5) |
| Phase 5: Implement and evaluate | Open-ended | Yearly results (step 5) |
12–18 months to an approved action plan. Survey every two years.
CTC separates two things that municipalities often mix: the people who can decide and pay, and the people who do the analysis and planning. Both groups meet at defined points, and one person keeps the process moving between them.
| Role | Assess readinessPhase 1: Assess readiness | Get organisedPhase 2: Get organised | Build a community profilePhase 3: Build a community profile | Create an action planPhase 4: Create an action plan | Implement and evaluatePhase 5: Implement and evaluate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Key leadersDescriptionThe mayor or district head, the heads of schools, youth services, police, health and the main welfare organisations, and the people who control budgets. They do not attend every meeting. They commit publicly at the start, receive the community profile and the action plan, approve the priorities, and open doors and funding. Without their formal commitment a process rarely survives its second year. | |||||
The community boardDescriptionA coalition of twenty to forty people from all sectors that touch children and families: schools, youth work, health, police, sport and culture, faith communities, parents and young people themselves. Where a suitable coalition already exists, it takes on the role instead of a new body being founded. The board owns the data, sets the priorities and writes the plan. | The community board, phase 1: not involved | ||||
The coordinatorDescriptionOne person, at least half-time, employed by a host organisation in the community. The coordinator prepares the board's meetings, runs the work groups, organises the survey with the schools, keeps the timeline and the documentation, and is the point of contact for the partner organisation. In practice this post is the single strongest predictor of whether the process is completed. | |||||
Work groupsDescriptionSmall groups of board members with a defined task and a time limit: one assesses the data and prepares the priorities, one maps existing services, one takes care of communication and public relations, one involves young people, and later one each for funding and for monitoring the programmes. Work groups do the work; the full board decides. | Work groups, phase 1: not involved | ||||
The CTC partner organisationDescriptionThe organisation that supports CTC in a country, a prevention council, a research institute or a non-profit, trains the coordinator and the board, runs or supports the youth survey, provides the comparison data and the register of tested programmes, and brings communities together. It does not run the local process; the community does. |
The mayor or district head, the heads of schools, youth services, police, health and the main welfare organisations, and the people who control budgets. They do not attend every meeting. They commit publicly at the start, receive the community profile and the action plan, approve the priorities, and open doors and funding. Without their formal commitment a process rarely survives its second year.
A coalition of twenty to forty people from all sectors that touch children and families: schools, youth work, health, police, sport and culture, faith communities, parents and young people themselves. Where a suitable coalition already exists, it takes on the role instead of a new body being founded. The board owns the data, sets the priorities and writes the plan.
One person, at least half-time, employed by a host organisation in the community. The coordinator prepares the board's meetings, runs the work groups, organises the survey with the schools, keeps the timeline and the documentation, and is the point of contact for the partner organisation. In practice this post is the single strongest predictor of whether the process is completed.
Small groups of board members with a defined task and a time limit: one assesses the data and prepares the priorities, one maps existing services, one takes care of communication and public relations, one involves young people, and later one each for funding and for monitoring the programmes. Work groups do the work; the full board decides.
The organisation that supports CTC in a country, a prevention council, a research institute or a non-profit, trains the coordinator and the board, runs or supports the youth survey, provides the comparison data and the register of tested programmes, and brings communities together. It does not run the local process; the community does.
Key leaders · Phase 1leads
Attend the half-day orientation and commit formally: to the process, the survey, a coordinator post and the board.
The coordinator · Phase 1takes part
Is recruited during this phase; once in post, drafts the work plan for phase two.
The CTC partner organisation · Phase 1takes part
Runs the orientation for the key leaders and advises on readiness.
Key leaders · Phase 2takes part
Recruit the board members and receive the vision statement.
The community board · Phase 2leads
Is formed, trained in two working days and agrees its structure and rules.
The coordinator · Phase 2leads
Prepares and runs the board, forms the first work groups, drafts the work plan.
Work groups · Phase 2takes part
The first work groups are formed, each with a written task.
The CTC partner organisation · Phase 2takes part
Trains the board in the research basis and the five phases.
Key leaders · Phase 3takes part
Receive the community profile and approve the two to five priority factors.
The community board · Phase 3leads
Reads the survey report and chooses the priority factors.
The coordinator · Phase 3leads
Organises the survey with the schools and prepares the report for the board.
Work groups · Phase 3leads
The assessment group reads the data, the resources group maps what already exists.
The CTC partner organisation · Phase 3leads
Runs the youth survey and provides the comparison values.
Key leaders · Phase 4takes part
Endorse the action plan and open doors and budgets for it.
The community board · Phase 4leads
Plans in a workshop: goals on three levels and tested programmes for every priority.
The coordinator · Phase 4leads
Prepares the planning workshop and writes the action plan.
Work groups · Phase 4takes part
Search the registers and work out implementers, goals and budgets per programme.
The CTC partner organisation · Phase 4takes part
Provides the register of tested programmes and advises on selection.
Key leaders · Phase 5takes part
Receive the results at least once a year and keep the coordinator post funded.
The community board · Phase 5leads
Meets at least quarterly, reviews its milestones yearly and revises the plan.
The coordinator · Phase 5leads
Keeps implementation, evaluation and funding on track and reports to everyone.
Work groups · Phase 5leads
Implementation, evaluation and funding groups do the year-round work.
The CTC partner organisation · Phase 5takes part
Runs the repeat survey every two years and supports fidelity.
The mayor or district head, the heads of schools, youth services, police, health and the main welfare organisations, and the people who control budgets. They do not attend every meeting. They commit publicly at the start, receive the community profile and the action plan, approve the priorities, and open doors and funding. Without their formal commitment a process rarely survives its second year.
A coalition of twenty to forty people from all sectors that touch children and families: schools, youth work, health, police, sport and culture, faith communities, parents and young people themselves. Where a suitable coalition already exists, it takes on the role instead of a new body being founded. The board owns the data, sets the priorities and writes the plan.
One person, at least half-time, employed by a host organisation in the community. The coordinator prepares the board's meetings, runs the work groups, organises the survey with the schools, keeps the timeline and the documentation, and is the point of contact for the partner organisation. In practice this post is the single strongest predictor of whether the process is completed.
Small groups of board members with a defined task and a time limit: one assesses the data and prepares the priorities, one maps existing services, one takes care of communication and public relations, one involves young people, and later one each for funding and for monitoring the programmes. Work groups do the work; the full board decides.
The organisation that supports CTC in a country, a prevention council, a research institute or a non-profit, trains the coordinator and the board, runs or supports the youth survey, provides the comparison data and the register of tested programmes, and brings communities together. It does not run the local process; the community does.
For every phase: the goal, who is involved, the steps and the milestones that finish it. The bar stays in view while you read, and the milestones can be ticked off.
You are needed at four points; everything else runs without you.
Where The community board leads or takes part.
You are part of every phase. These are the ones that start with you.
Where Work groups leads or takes part.
Where The CTC partner organisation leads or takes part.
Phase 1
Two to four months. Longer when funding for the coordinator has to be found first.
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Phase 2
Two to three months, overlapping with the preparation of the survey.
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Phase 3
Four to six months, depending on the school year and the survey schedule.
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Phase 4
Three to four months.
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Phase 5
Open-ended. Programmes run for years; measurable change in the community follows the second or third survey.
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The process needs a paid coordinator, a partner organisation that can run the survey, and key leaders who stay committed through a local election cycle. It fails where the board is a committee of officials without residents, where priorities are set before the data arrive, where programmes are chosen for their availability rather than their evidence, or where the coordinator post ends with the first grant. The European evaluations, positive and negative, point to the same conditions.
Phase five is not an end state. The repeated youth survey shows whether the priority factors have moved, the resource assessment shows whether the programmes still reach whom they should, and the board revises the action plan on that evidence. A community that has run the full cycle once no longer needs to start from phase one; it needs to keep the board, the coordinator and the survey. That is what the evidence pages mean by sustainability.
Every task in the five phases serves one theory of change: young people who are given opportunities to contribute, the skills to use them and recognition for doing so become attached to the people and institutions around them, adopt their standards, and behave accordingly. The survey measures where that chain is weak; the programmes strengthen the links. The model behind it is described on the approach page.
What phase three measures, and how Phase 3 · Build a community profile
Where phase four finds tested programmes Phase 4 · Create an action plan
What the trials found, and what they did not Phase 5 · Implement and evaluate