Local News
Program aims to foster positive youth development
EBENSBURG — Helping kids prepare for life and the future.
That’s the message officials with Communities in Schools of the Laurel Highlands conveyed Wednesday when they launched its Communities That Care site at Admiral Peary Vocational-Technical School.
The grant-funded initiative is designed to bring school districts, local government officials, human service agencies and community partners together to work toward a common goal of finding ways to prevent youth violence, school dropout, delinquency, drug use and teen pregnancy.
It also will promote positive youth development and strong families.
Mickie Eberhart, executive director of CIS of the Laurel Highlands, said Communities that Care will provide support to the seven school districts Admiral Peary services – Penn Cambria, Northern Cambria, Portage, Blacklick Valley, Conemaugh Valley, Cambria Heights and Central Cambria.
“The key to CTC is to create prevention and intervention programs that address our community’s needs,” she said.
Brian Bumbarger, director of the Evidence-based Prevention, Intervention and Support Center at Penn State, said through his research he has seen CTC’s effectiveness.
“This is a new way of doing business,” he said. “All areas have good-hearted people who have good intentions, and now we have a blueprint that will help us move forward and achieve a better and stronger community.”
He said the EPIS Center has been studying locations that have Communities that Caresites for 10 years and found that 33 percent of students perform academically better than students who have no access to CTC centers.
“The evidence is pretty outstanding and is having an impact,” Bumbarger said. “Once this model is adopted you will see a difference in your community.”
- Local News
-
-
NEW - Dinner raises $1.2 million for Murtha foundation
More than 300 lawmakers, military officials and business leaders gathered Wednesday night to pay tribute to the memory of the late John P. Murtha.
The event – “A Night To Remember and Celebrate” – raised $1.2 million for the John P. Murtha Foundation and the John P. Murtha Center for Public Service, to be developed on the Pitt-Johnstown campus. -
Helper guilty of fraud
A Cambria County jury took only an hour Wednesday to find a part-time handyman/caregiver guilty on all counts for misappropriating $668,518 from 2000 to early 2008 from an elderly woman who thought of him like a son.
-
Youth freed in stabbing
A 15-year-old boy accused of stabbing another youth in a dispute over money was expected to be released from jail Wednesday, and the case likely will be heard in juvenile court.
-
Health reform is here to stay, government official declares
Health-care reform is not going anywhere, a regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told a lunchtime business meeting Wednesday.
-
Officer charged with assault to be assessed
A Windber police corporal suspended after he was accused of assaulting a woman will be assessed by a batterers intervention group, authorities said.
-
Camp PARC offers fantasy, adventure
Camp PARC counselors and campers joined together to play instruments and sing songs Wednesday, embodying the emotion behind the camp with the song lyrics: “It starts in the heart.”
-
In brief: Free dinner planned at Windber church
A free community dinner will be served from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Windber Calvary United Methodist Church, 1800 Stockholm Ave.
-
Critz seeks attendance at ARMTech showcase
U.S. Rep. Mark Critz, D-Johnstown, is urging western Pennsylvania businesses to participate in the 12th annual ARMTech Showcase of Industry and Technology that will be held Aug. 18-20 in Kittanning, Armstrong County.
- UPDATE Jury begins deliberations in Solensky trial
- District Deaths July 29, 2010
- More Local News Headlines
-
NEW - Dinner raises $1.2 million for Murtha foundation
