Empowering Communities to Prevent Adolescent Substance Abuse

This article reviews the TOGETHER! Communities for Drug Free Youth program. Prominent researchers at the Social Development Research Group at the University of Washington, Tracy W. Harachi, Ph.D., Charles D. Ayers, Ph.D., J. David Hawkins, Ph.D., and Richard F. Catalano, Ph.D., along with Judy Cushing, Executive Director of The Oregon Partnership, discuss the premises of the Communities That Care prevention strategy then give a case example of how this program worked for one community in Oregon.

The TOGETHER! project has demonstrated that multiple communities can be mobilized using the Communities That Care strategy and the Oregon Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs has since institutionalized this program.