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Communities are Safe for Children, Youth and Families (Dorchester) (Formerly Safety)

Story Behind the Curve

Several forces at work are under consideration for the indicators identified. Suggestions at the planning sessions included:

  • Lack of appropriate community based diversion and affordable and accessible ancillary services;
  • Lack of proper parental supervision;
  • Challenges with single parent homes;
  • Poor environment – and living conditions due to poverty;
  • Limited parental education;
  • High unemployment rate among adults and lack of employment opportunities for juveniles;
  • Lack of parenting programming;
  • Children being raised by extended family or older family members;
  • Substance use (includes alcohol)
  • Abuse of “family”;
  • Lack of parental involvement in the educational process of their children;
  • Higher than average drop-out rates among high school students;
  • Lack of public transportation;
  • Incarcerated parents; and
  • Lack of transitioning for inmates back into the community.

Teens who participated in the needs assessment focus groups of 2010, and those teens in 2011 and data gathered from the 2012 CTC survey and 2013 expressed concern about juvenile crime and especially violent crime.The teens spoke about increases in fighting in the public schools and in the community among their peers.

The three risk factors most likely to impact juvenile crime are 1) peer norms favorable to criminal activities; 2) poor decision making and conflict resolution skills; 3) and poor family management practices.Three strategies are proposed to counter these risk factors by building the opposing protective factors of 1) association with positive peers; 2) strong youth development opportunities; and 3) family and parenting support.


Strategies to improve these indicators

Why Is This Important?

A community that supports safety and family life is important in a small rural community like Dorchester County that has very limited resources.It is important to bring all sectors of the community together to create a community where children and families fell safe in their home and are able to live in safe and supportive neighborhoods.

Clear Impact Suite is an easy-to-use, web-based software platform that helps your staff collaborate with external stakeholders and community partners by utilizing the combination of data collection, performance reporting, and program planning.

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