About Us

Chambersburg Cares is an initiative of Healthy Communities Partnership that was formed in April of 2015.  This coalition has representation from 12 sectors – including religious/fraternal, youth, youth service, state/local/tribal government, civic & volunteer groups, parents, healthcare, media, schools, law enforcement, and other organizations involved in substance abuse.

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Risk Factors 

Based on the analysis of the data and input from the community, the following risk factors were identified by Chambersburg Cares as priorities for community attention:

• Parental Attitudes Favorable to Drug Use / Antisocial Behavior (Family Domain)

• Student Access to and Acceptance of Underage Drinking (Peer and Individual Domain)

• Low Commitment to School (School Domain)

• Youth Depression (Individual Domain)

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Protective Factor 

The following protective factor was identified as a priority to be addressed:

• Community Rewards for Pro-Social Involvement (Community Domain)

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Communities That Care 

Chambersburg Cares started under the Communities That Care model. Communities That Care (CTC) is an operating system that takes communities through a well-defined and structured process to prevent adolescent problem behaviors and promote positive youth development. CTC communities form a broad-based coalition and then collect local data on risk and protective factors shown by research to be associated with delinquency, violence, substance use, and school failure and dropout. After collecting this data the community identifies 3-5 specific risk and protective factors to focus on, and then seeks evidence-based programs and strategies to address those priorities. After 2-3 years of implementing these strategies, the community re-assesses their risk and protective factors to measure impact and identify new emerging priorities.

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Drug Free Communities 

In September of 2017, the Chambersburg Cares coalition was awarded Drug-Free Communities (DFC) funding totaling $625,000 over five years. DFC uses the Sustainability and Cultural Competence framework. This model starts with assessment and finishes with evaluation. DFC focuses on creating environmental and policy changes to get at the root of the problem. 

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Goals for the Drug Free Communities Program:

Drug-Free Communities Goal #1: Increase Community Collaboration

Drug-Free Communities Goal #2: Reduce Youth Substance Use

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