The Bonneville Communities that Care Coalition (BCTC) is composed of four cities motivated to provide healthy neighborhoods and schools by reducing negative factors in our community. We do this by first starting with a thorough assessment of community needs and strengths, followed by using prevention strategies programs and policies to reduce risk and increase protection for our youth. The four cities: Washington Terrace, Riverdale, Uintah and South Ogden, are united and mobilized with 12 community sectors to organize our effors to be the most effective we possibly can in this critical work to prevent problems before they occur. Together, our cities make up the Bonneville "cone" due to the fact tht it is made up of seven elementary schools and two junior high schools that funnel into one high school, Bonneville High. We are a community in the southern part of Weber County, Utah and share two zipcodes, 84403 and 84405. Accordingto the United States 2016 Census Population Estimate, the Bonneville Cone's total population is 35,341. Of that figure, 29% of the population is under the age of 18, demonstrating that our population is relatively young. Fifty-eight percent (58%) fall in the age range of 19-64, and 13% is 65 and older. the average of total persons living below poverty level is 8% and the median annual household income is $51,571. The region is designated as urban.
Our goal is to create a healthier environment for the community by preventing youth substance abuse by positively impacting the risk and protective factors affecting our communities. To do this we use the scientifically proven Communities That Care (CTC) model. CTC lays the foundation for all our coalition work1. Strategies and programs we have chosen include educating parents of the harms of underage drinking and the skills to prevent it, raising awareness of the opioid crisis and techniques to reduce it and analyzing environmental issues that lead to drug use including alcohol and tobacco. Our coalition efforts have enlisted the help of the junior and high schools by providing Botvin Lifeskills Training to 8th and 10th grade classes. This class has been proven to reduce tobacco, e cigarettes, alcohol and other drug misuse including the abuse and misuse of prescription drugs.
Our efforts are aimed at the entire community with emphasis on sub populations experiencing greater risk. With a cooperative effort and following proven prevention methods, we will reduce underage drinking, opioid misuse, and nicotine and e cigarette use. Our specific programs and classes will reach an estimated 1000 students in the first year, 5,000 over the five year period. We have had great success in media coverage at past press conferences. For each media event we do, we reach an average of 55,000 in our target population, in the next five year we will provide 200000 people with the knowledge and skills they need to reduce opioid misuse, reduce underage drinking and increase t heir health, family's health and community health.
