Research indicates that increasing numbers of youth committing crimes, using substances and dropping out of high school in local communities can often be reflective of larger, interrelated community factors, and that schools alone cannot effectively address the problems of delinquency, mental illness, substance abuse, and poor academic achievement. However, these trends can be positively impacted when communities adopt a comprehensive approach that builds connections between students, families, caring adults, schools and community agencies.
ACYI’s priorities and activities are based upon much research about how best to keep young people safe and help them to do well in school, as well as extensive data about the challenges and assets present in our community. ACYI utilizes a partnership-based approach to identify strengths and needs from community data, and implements evidence-based programs and strategies to address the underlying risk and protective factors that influence them.
