Center For Communities That Care

What Center For Communities That Care does

The Center for Communities That Care is a non-profit program affiliated with the University of Washington's Social Development Research Group (School of Social Work), headquartered in Seattle, WA, that distributes two evidence-based youth prevention systems — CTC PLUS (a community-level five-phase change process) and Guiding Good Choices (a parenting program for caregivers of youth ages 9-14). Both are built on the Social Development Strategy, a proprietary framework emphasizing opportunities, skills, recognition, bonding, and clear standards for behavior, and are supported by a randomized controlled trial across 24 communities in 7 states with a longitudinal panel of 4,407 students. Validated outcomes include 33% lower smoking initiation, 25% lower delinquency, 37% lower binge drinking, 27% lower handgun carrying among CTC youth, and a Washington State Institute for Public Policy 2023 finding of $5.69 in long-term economic return per dollar invested.

The Center generates revenue primarily through licensing fees (e.g., $240/year or $500/3-year GGC licenses), one-time facilitator training fees (~$855 per workshop leader), and ongoing coaching and technical assistance contracts with community coalitions. Its go-to-market combines direct licensing to community coalitions with a virtual and in-person training-of-facilitator pipeline, monthly webinar series, and a CTC Learning Community dashboard, supplemented by grant support from federal partners such as NIDA and SAMHSA. Customers span community prevention coalitions (Minnesota, Michigan, Utah, Florida, Tennessee), K-12 schools, pediatric care practices, and an international pilot in County Kildare, Ireland, served by a small staff of certified CTC specialists, trainers, and coaches.

Name

Center For Communities That Care

Legal name

Center for Communities That Care (University of Washington)

Website

https://communitiesthatcare.net

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Center for Communities That Care is a University of Washington-affiliated non-profit that licenses CTC PLUS and Guiding Good Choices, evidence-based youth substance-use and violence prevention programs, to community coalitions, schools, and prevention practitioners across the US and Ireland.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Prevention Programs

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Individual and Family Services (6241), Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits (BPAGADAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Family & Parenting Support Services (BPAGAEAC), Community Health, Prevention & Health Education (BPAGACAC), Youth Mental Health, Counseling & Wellbeing (Education-Linked) Nonprofits (BPAGADAK), Community Centers & Neighborhood Support Services (BPAGAEAL)

Keywords

• Youth prevention programs
• Community prevention science
• Parent education programs
• Evidence-based prevention
• Substance abuse prevention

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Program Licensing: The Center provides licensing for Guiding Good Choices and CTC PLUS programs. Licenses are required for each workshop leader implementing the programs, with options for 1-year or 3-year terms.
2. Training Services: The Center generates revenue through training workshop leaders to deliver Guiding Good Choices and CTC PLUS programs. Training fees cover the cost of instruction and materials.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Center for Communities That Care distributes evidence-based youth prevention programs, most notably CTC PLUS (a five-phase community prevention system) and Guiding Good Choices (a parenting program for families of youth ages 9-14), to community coalitions and prevention practitioners. It sells program licenses and delivers facilitator training, coaching, and technical assistance to ensure program fidelity. It is part of the University of Washington's Social Development Research Group and operates as a non-profit.

Product overview

The Center for Communities That Care offers a portfolio of evidence-based prevention programs built on the Social Development Strategy methodology. The core offerings include CTC PLUS (a comprehensive five-phase community prevention system) and Guiding Good Choices (a parent program for families of youth ages 9-14). Additional supported programs include Raising Healthy Children, Families Facing the Future, Connecting, and Staying Connected with Your Teen. These programs work together to prevent youth substance use, violence, delinquency, and other behavioral problems through community coalitions, family strengthening, and school-based interventions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CTC PLUS: Communities That Care PLUS - a prevention system that guides communities through a five-phase change process using prevention science.
• Guiding Good Choices

Products and services

• CTC PLUS (Communities That Care PLUS) A community prevention system that guides communities through a five-phase change process using prevention science to promote healthy youth development, improve youth outcomes, and reduce problem behaviors such as substance use, delinquency, and violence. Sold to community coalitions and youth-serving organizations.
• Guiding Good Choices An evidence-based parent program for caregivers of youth ages 9-14 that teaches skills to strengthen family bonds, improve parent-child communication, and help teens follow family guidelines toward better health and educational outcomes. Sold as a licensed program with annual or multi-year terms.
• Raising Healthy Children A comprehensive, school-based preventive intervention covering children from kindergarten through high school with developmentally appropriate material that increases school commitment, academic performance, and social competency while reducing antisocial behavior.
• Families Facing the Future A program developed for families where parents are addicted to drugs or alcohol, consisting of a five-hour family retreat and 32 parent training workshops conducted over 16 weeks, with children attending 12 sessions to practice skills with their parents.
• Connecting A self-directed, family-focused substance abuse and risky sexual behavior prevention program for foster teens and their caregivers, adapted from Staying Connected with Your Teen for use in the child welfare system.
• Staying Connected with Your Teen A seven-session universal prevention program addressing substance abuse and problem behavior in middle-schoolers, available as five 2-hour workshop sessions or seven self-paced home-study discussion units with video and workbook components.
• Social Development Strategy The foundational strategy for all Center programs, organizing knowledge about protective factors into five key components (Opportunities, Skills, Recognition, Bonding, and Clear Standards for Behavior) that foster healthy youth development.
• Facilitator and Coach Training Services Fee-based certification training for facilitators and workshop leaders to deliver CTC PLUS, Guiding Good Choices, and other Center programs. Includes 3-week virtual CTC Training of Facilitators, 19-hour Guiding Good Choices Workshop Leader Training, and Social Development Strategy workshops, plus ongoing coaching.

Quantifiable outcome

• 33% reduction in cigarette smoking initiation among CTC community youth by 8th grade
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and flagship.

• National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve LivesminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 May 2026Coalition focused on improving lives through prevention science. Sponsors events like the Whole Child Health & Well-being webinar on Federal Research Investments.
• Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center at Penn StateminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 May 2026Partner sponsor for the Whole Child Health & Well-being event focusing on federal investments in whole-child approaches to health and well-being.
• UNC Gillings School of Global Public HealthminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 May 2026Partner sponsor for the Whole Child Health & Well-being event, collaborating on exploring whole-child health approaches.
• Nova Institute for HealthminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 May 2026Sponsor of the Whole Child Health & Well-being event dedicated to creating a healthy digital ecosystem for children and adolescents.
• South Western Substance Use Regional Form (SURF) - IrelandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 February 2025SURF is the lead organization for the first CTC pilot in Ireland, coordinating efforts in Newbridge, County Kildare. This is the first community in Ireland to implement Communities That Care.
• Foroige Drug Prevention & Education Initiative - IrelandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 26 February 2025Foroige is a key partner in the Ireland CTC pilot, contributing drug prevention and education expertise to the Newbridge, County Kildare implementation.
• Bach-HarrisoncoreTechnology or IntegrationBach-Harrison provides surveys, analysis, and reporting services to CTC communities. They offer the CTC Youth Survey and related data analysis tools for communities to measure risk and protective factors.
• Social Development Research Group (SDRG)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Center for Communities That Care is part of the Social Development Research Group, an internationally recognized interdisciplinary team at the University of Washington School of Social Work united in promoting healthy behaviors and positive youth development.
• Washington State Institute for Public PolicyminorOthersWSIPP conducted benefit-cost analysis showing $5.69 return per dollar invested in CTC (2023), providing economic validation of the prevention approach.
• SAMHSAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration supports National Prevention Week and promotes substance use prevention across communities using evidence-based approaches.
• Northwest Prevention Technology Transfer Center (PTTC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNorthwest PTTC collaborates with the Center on prevention power sessions and training events. Dr. Nicole Eisenberg serves as co-director of the Region 10 Northwest PTTC.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Child Trends: Nonprofit research organization that studies and evaluates programs for children and youth, including evidence-based prevention. Provides research and evaluation services that complement or substitute for some of CTC's outcomes-measurement value proposition.
• Channing-Bete Company: Publisher and distributor of evidence-based prevention curricula and parenting programs to schools, communities, and government agencies. Adjacent vendor that competes for the same prevention program budgets and shares CTC's evidence-based licensing model.
• Bach-Harrison LLC: Vendor that provides the CTC Youth Survey, risk/protective-factor data collection, and reporting services for prevention coalitions. Functions as a strategic supplier/partner to CTC PLUS communities and competes in the broader prevention-assessment ecosystem.
• Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation: Major nonprofit provider of addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery resources, including evidence-based youth and family prevention curricula. Overlaps with CTC in substance-use prevention delivery and serves similar family and community audiences.
• Society for Prevention Research: Professional membership organization advancing prevention science, with close ties to researchers at the Social Development Research Group. Functions as the scientific and networking community supporting CTC's evidence-based positioning.

Emerging players

• Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development: University of Colorado Boulder program registry that rates and disseminates evidence-based youth prevention programs including CTC. Comparable in evidence-based youth development space and serves as both a referral channel and an indirect competitor to CTC PLUS.
• Prevention Research Center at Penn State: Academic prevention research center that develops and disseminates evidence-based family and youth programs through partnerships with schools and communities. Comparable university-affiliated model for translating prevention science into community-delivered programs.

Direct peers

• Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA): National membership organization that trains and supports community drug-prevention coalitions across the U.S., directly comparable to CTC's coalition-building, training, and technical-assistance model. CADCA serves the same buyer (community coalitions) with overlapping substance-use prevention outcomes.
• PAX Good Behavior Game: Evidence-based school and community prevention program with comparable training/licensing model, randomized-trial evidence base, and focus on youth behavioral and substance-use outcomes. Sold to schools and community systems in the same buyer set as CTC PLUS.
• PROSPER: Iowa State University and Penn State-led prevention system that links schools, communities, and universities to deliver evidence-based youth and family programs. Directly comparable community-university partnership structure and family-focused prevention model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCSvfu68VZ2WR4IbDwQsPn3Q
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/center-for-communities-that-care

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Center For Communities That Care