About us
COPES (The Council on Prevention and Education: Substances, Inc.) was founded
in 1981 as a private, nonprofit 501 (c) (3) organization. The original mission
was to provide alcohol and drug education services to students in Louisville
public and private school districts. Program efforts were well received by
students, educators, and the community at large. Yet, COPES quickly came to
recognize the limitations of this initial mission. Classroom instruction was
important, but COPES recognized that this should only be part of a larger,
community-based prevention strategy if lasting results were desired. COPES
expanded its mission and scope of services. By 1983, COPES was working not
only with public, private and parochial schools, but also with social service
programs, churches, juvenile justice institutions, community recreational
centers, and businesses. Funding increased from a sole source contract to
multiple contracts and grants.
By the mid 1980s, COPES was offering training, workshops, educational programs,
and consulting services to urban and rural populations across the state of
Kentucky. COPES was developing programs for specific high risk populations,
corrections departments, military personnel, teachers, churches, mental health
providers, and sports programs. COPES' major focus remained on youth and families
and it continued developing programs for both.
National recognition first came to COPES in 1989 when it was chosen as one
of 16 exemplary prevention programs by The Office for Substance Abuse Prevention,
the National Prevention Network, and the National Association of State Alcohol
and Drug Abuse Directors. The following year COPES was awarded a five-year
federal demonstration grant from the Office of Substance Abuse Prevention
for implementing its Creating Lasting Connections
program. Ecumenical and community-based in design, this program focused on
increasing those community, family, and personal resiliency factors which
reduce the likelihood that 12-14 year old youths at risk will abuse alcohol
and other drugs, engaged in other delinquent, violent or uncontrolled behaviors.
Presented in its entirety, Creating Lasting Connections
imparts to parents and youth knowledge and understanding about the use, abuse,
and dependency on tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs; improves communication
and conflict resolution skills; builds refusal skills to resist negative social
influences; and engenders self-knowledge, personal responsibility, and respect
for others.
The evaluation of this program, under the direction of Dr. Knowlton Johnson,
of Community Systems Research Institute, Inc. (an independent party), used
a true experimental design, in that the youth were randomly assigned to either
a program or a comparison group.
The main published findings included the following. In terms of positive direct
effects of the program, there were statistically significant sustained gains
by both parents and youth in these areas:
- use of community services by families with personal/family problems
- action taken based on the service contact
- parents’ and youths’ perceived helpfulness of the action taken
- increased parents’ alcohol and other drug (AOD) knowledge and beliefs
- increased youth involvement in setting AOD use rules
In addition to the program effects described above, the evaluation also included examination of "moderating effects" in which the program was shown to have "produced positive moderating effects on AOD use among youth as a result of conditional relationships with changes in family-level and youth-level resiliency factors targeted by the program" (Johnson et al., 1996: 63). For example, a family-level factor that served as a moderator variable for delaying the onset of AOD use was increased program-advocated AOD knowledge and beliefs by parents.
The following were statistically significant moderating effects of family and youth resiliency factors on youth AOD use found through the CLC evaluation:
- Onset of AOD use was delayed among program group youth for one year (sustained gain) as parents (a) increased AOD knowledge and beliefs; (b) decreased family conflict (youth report); and (c) increased likelihood of punishing youth for AOD use.
- Use of alcohol was reduced in the short term as parents (a) increased AOD knowledge and beliefs; (b) decreased their quantity of smoking tobacco products; and (c) decreased their likelihood of punishing (versus appropriate discipline) youth for misconduct.
For a more detailed discussion of the CLC evaluation findings, the reader is referred to the primary journal article containing the description and results of the evaluation of Creating Lasting Connections (the demonstration project from which Creating Lasting Family Connections was developed). That article appeared in the Journal of Adolescent Research (1996). The authors were Knowlton Johnson, Ted Strader, Michael Berbaum, Denise Bryant, Gregory Bucholtz, David Collins, and Tim Noe. In addition to this article, others appeared in the Journal of Volunteer Administration (Strader, Collins, Noe & Johnson, 1997); in Social Work (Johnson, Bryant, Collins, Noe, Strader & Berbaum, 1998); and an article in the Journal of Community Practice (Johnson, Noe, Collins, Strader & Bucholtz, 2000).
The effectiveness of the Creating Lasting Family Connections program is further reflected by recognition in 1989,1995 and again in 1999 as one of 20 Exemplary Prevention Programs by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, and by its inclusion in YouthNet (a program of recognition by the International Youth Foundation), and by its selection as one of only eight models for National replication selected in 1998 by the federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. COPES' programs are currently in wide use throughout the United States.
COPES programs have received numerous awards for excellence.
- In 2007, Creating Lasting Family Connections was re-evaluated for ongoing inclusion in the National Registry of Effective Prevention Programs and Practices.
- In 2006, COPES received two multi-million dollar grants to demonstrate and re-evaluate the CLFC program's ability to improve and promote healthy marriages and improve the skills of fatherhood for criminal justice re-entry and newly recovering populations.
- In 2005, COPES received a five year million dollar grant to demonstrate and re-evaluate the CLFC program's ability to reduce Substance Abuse, HIV and Hepatitis among Minority populations.
- In 2002, Creating Lasting Family Connections was recognized as a model science-based program by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
- In 2001, COPES and the Creating Lasting Family Connections program received a Special Recognition Award from the Executive Office of the President's Office of National Drug Control Policy.
- In 2001, Creating Lasting Family Connections received the U.S. Department of Education Certificate of Recognition as a Promising Program for Safe, Disciplined and Drug-Free Schools.
- The Creating Lasting Family Connections program was featured as a Model Family Program in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Strengthening America’s Family publication on substance abuse and delinquency prevention in 2000.
- In 1997, Copes Model program, Creating Lasting Family Connections, was chosen as one of only eight programs nationwide for the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention’s model program dissemination project.
- The Creating Lasting Connections program was also featured in the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention’s “Prevention Works” video in 1996.
- Also in 1996, COPES Creating Lasting Connections program was selected to join the International Youth Foundation’s YouthNet, an international effort to replicate highly successful programs as demonstrated by research. Only the most rigorously evaluated and effective programs in the world are selected to receive this great honor.
- The COPES Creating Lasting Connections demonstration project received The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention’s Exemplary Substance Abuse Prevention Program Award for 1989, 1995 and 1999. The Creating Lasting Family Connections program is a revised and updated version of this successful program.
- In 1988, COPES received a Federal Letter of Commendation from the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Otis T. Bowen, M.D.
