The Jefferson County Communities That Care (Jeffco CTC) coalition is focused on reducing
youth substance misuse by reducing risk factors and increasing protective factors affecting youth
in our diverse community located along the front range of the Rocky Mountains, just west of
Denver, Colorado. Our community is home to over 2000 alcohol outlets and many community
events featuring alcohol. In addition, our community has legalized, and heavily promoted,
marijuana being sold in 44 shops across our county. Extensive coalition data analysis and
community input show that both youth and adults have favorable attitudes toward use of
marijuana and alcohol, and that youth often use substances as a way to cope with trauma or
depression. To tackle these issues, the Jeffco CTC coalition has used the Strategic Prevention
framework with the objectives to decrease youth substance misuse by shifting social norms,
while increasing prosocial opportunities and positive coping for our teens. At the same time, the
coalition aims to increase community awareness and collaboration around these issues. To meet
these goals, over the past five years our coalition has successfully:
¿ Offered parents and guardians information, resources and skill-building through the
Twelve Talks to Have With Teens initiative.
¿ Promoted positive social norming, youth internships, and opportunities for youth to
contribute to the community through Jeffco Teens.
¿ Spearheaded an effort to update health and substance use education policies in Jeffco
Public Schools.
¿ Successfully supported policy changes to collect representative youth substance misuse
data in Jeffco Schools.
In addition to continuing to support these efforts, in the next five years, the Jeffco CTC coalition
is poised to substantially increase positive social norming messages in the community, advocate
for policy changes in substance advertising and house party laws, and implement a training
program for adults who work with youth in allyship and supportive practices. Our coalition
vision is a Jefferson County that is a healthy, safe, and thriving community for youth.