Empowering communities to prevent adolescent substance abuse: Process evaluation results from a risk- and protection-focused community mobilization effort

Abstract

TOGETHER! Communities for Drug-Free Youth demonstrated the Communities That Care community mobilization strategy for risk-focused prevention of adolescent substance abuse. The project mobilized 35 Oregon communities to conduct quantitative assessments of community risk factors and protective resources, to develop comprehensive prevention plans incorporating promising approaches to priority risk factors, and to implement their plans. At the end of the four-year demonstration, 31 communities remained active in the project, which Oregon has institutionalized. The Communities That Care strategy, process results, and case examples are described. Implications for comprehensive prevention models of adolescent substance abuse and other problem behaviors are explored.