What we do
About Communities That Care (CTC)
OUR HISTORY
The I-70 Corridor Communities That Care (CTC) coalition began in 2016 through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Communities that Care Initiative. 47 communities participate in CTC to reduce risk factors and increase protective factors among youth. This multi-year grant is funded through state marijuana tax dollars. The I-70 CCTC, in collaboration with Adams County Health Department and Bennett Park and Rec, utilizes this funding to facilitate efforts focused in the following areas along the corridor: Watkins, Bennett, Strasburg, Byers, and Deer Trail.
OUR GOALS
Stakeholders, community members, key leaders, and youth come together to further evidence-based community change focused on preventing substance misuse in our community.
OUR STRATEGIES
Systems change strategies guide us in upstream community- and societal-level systems changes within our community and environment to ultimately reduce risk factors and protect youth from adverse health and social outcomes. These strategies are focused on local systems change, not on changes that may occur at the state or federal level. From these strategies, our coalition has created specific action plans to implement initiatives that have been chosen based on local risk and protective factor data and community buy-in.
ABOUT THE CTC PROCESS
Communities That Care organizes community members from all sectors and backgrounds to unite as a local coalition and use what we know works from science to build healthier communities. CTC impacts communities over time because it addresses the root causes of violence, substance misuse, and delinquency among youth, and promotes positive development and mental health.
The goal of CTC in Colorado is to give communities the skills they need to make lasting change in their community. CTC builds the capacity of parents, youth, and other community members to identify local problems and promote local solutions to transform their community. As vocal advocates for prevention, they take ownership of local issues and drive funding and decisions toward true community needs and evidence-based solutions.
Community-centered
focused on Youth engagement
Creating lasting positive change


Our Mission
I-70 Corridor Communities that Care strives to provide opportunities for improving youth health in our schools, families, and community at large through educational and economic outreach focusing on youth substance prevention and safety.

Our Coalition
Our coalition consists of community members from various sectors, including youth, parents, business, media, schools, youth-serving organizations, healthcare professionals, volunteer organizations, religious organizations, law enforcement, state/local government, substance use prevention organizations, and more.

Our Community
Our community, the I-70 Corridor, spans the towns of Watkins, Bennett, Strasburg, Byers, and Deer Trail.

What we Do
Our Risk and Protective Factors
Through a series of phases over the course of several years, CTC addresses risks in our community with the goal of preventing youth substance use by addressing our community’s risk and protective factors. Risk and protective factors are present across several areas of a young person’s life (like in school, in their family, or in the community) and can lead to a young person using substances (risk factors) or can help prevent them from engaging in problem behaviors (protective factors). Our goal is to lower risk factors and increase protective factors in the I-70 Corridor community.
Risk factor: limited economic opportunity
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risk factor: limited parental supervision for any reason
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protective factor: family opportunities for prosocial involvement
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Our Coalition Work Groups

Data
Our data work group collects, analyzes, and presents information on community risk and protective factors impacting youth and youth substance use.

Communications
Our communications work group supports our promotional and marketing initiatives in the community.

School Engagement
Our school engagement work group is actively involved in the schools along the corridor. The workgroup fosters positive relationships between school leaders, coalition members, and the community.
Join our coalition. Volunteer, Donate, Advocate. Get Started Today.
Email: nharrell@bennettrec.org
Call Anytime: (303)644-5049