Milo Berry steps down amid praise for growing Communities that Care program into a powerful force for good

Milo Berry, the founding director of Communities that Care in Tooele, stepped down last week after seven years of guiding the youth development program. During his time in charge, Berry helped thousands of students and over 400 parents in Tooele, and grew the program beyond city limits to reach into every community in Tooele County.

In 2003, Berry had only been retired from a 36-year career teaching and coaching at Tooele High School for two days when his wife talked him into applying for the coordinator position for the new Tooele City youth program.

“I used to teach sociology and I was impressed by the Communities that Care research-based approach to youth development strategies,” said Berry, now 66.

The Communites that Care system was originally developed by two social scientists at the University of Washington, and has been adopted as a prevention model by the U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Tooele City, as a small community outside an urban area, was selected in 2003 by the University of Washington’s Social Development Research Group as one of 24 communities nationwide to participate in a study to test the effectiveness of the Communities that Care system.

That system surveys youth and analyzes the data to select and implement strategies that reduce substance abuse, delinquency, truancy, violence and other antisocial behaviors.

Under Berry’s leadership, Tooele’s Communities that Care volunteer board selected three programs to implement, each aimed at improving a specific risk factor for positive youth development.

Lions Quest, a sixth-grade based program, was selected for improving low commitment to school. Life Skills Training, a junior high school program that teaches decision making skills was selected to address antisocial behavior. And Guiding Good Choices, a community-based parent education program, was selected to address family conflict.

Continued surveys over the years demonstrate improvement in these areas, a sign the programs are working, according to Berry.

“The school-based programs have been well received. Teachers, administrators and students have enjoyed the programs,” Berry said.

Berry’s biggest frustration over the years has been with getting parents to attend the Guiding Good Choices classes.

“In seven years, we have trained 400 families in Guiding Good Choices,” Berry said. “That might sound impressive but it is far short of our original goal of 180 families per year.”

Berry said that while Guiding Good Choices is excellent training for all parents with teenagers, there are a couple obstacles that have been hard to overcome.

“The class requires a commitment of five two-hour sessions,” Berry said. “And we have also struggled to overcome the stigma of parenting classes. Some parents feel that attending a parenting class is an admission of failure, but that is not true.”

Tooele City Mayor Patrick Dunlavy is so bullish on the Communities that Care program that he included it in city budgets after the initial University of Washington grant ran out two years ago.

“Milo took a fledgling program from inception to what has turned into a nationally renowned Communities that Care program,” Dunlavy said. “Communities that Care would not have been successful with Milo’s leadership.”

Communities that Care has been successful at strengthening our youth and helping them avoid conflict, Dunlavy said.

“The program was successful and it is the best thing we have going for our youth,” Dunlavy said. “They proved the program worked, and continuing the program was essential.”

“Milo is the best advocate the young people of our community have ever had,” said Ron Kirby, Tooele City chief of police. “Communities that Care has brought together the efforts of the community and we are pulling together for youth better than ever.”

This year, with funding provided through a federal alcohol prevention grant to the Tooele County School District, the Communities that Care program is being expanded beyond Tooele City into the entire county. Berry said a fourth program called Class Action, which is targeted to high school students and stresses preventing alcohol use, is being added.

Jaclynn Sagers will replace Berry as the new director of Communities that Care. Sagers, a Tooele native, has worked for the last two years with Berry as the school programs coordinator. Prior to working for Communities that Care, Sagers worked in customer service for Liddiard’s Home Furnishings. She already has a vision for where she wants the program to go.

“We need to maintain our sustainability by making sure the community is aware of the needs of our youth and how Communities that Care is successfully addressing those needs,” Sagers said. “We also need to maintain the network of school and community leaders that now extends throughout the county that has been the foundation of our success.”

As for Berry, his plans aren’t going to take him to far away.

“I hope to stay involved as a board member and a program facilitator,” Berry said. “The last seven years have been some of the most rewarding years of my life.”

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com