The DCCCA Journey: 50 Years of Community Impact
1974: Our Beginnings
Established in 1974, DCCCA arose from community concerns about individuals suffering from alcohol abuse in Douglas County, Kansas. This grassroots initiative created resources to aid those fighting addiction.
1980s: Expanding Our Reach
In January 1981, DCCCA officially launched its first statewide initiative. The Kansas Community Alcohol Safety Action Project, supported by the Kansas Department of Transportation, enabled the agency to help establish Alcohol Safety Action Projects across Kansas. These projects focus on educational activities, the reduction of impaired driving, and the creation of informational databases on drunk driving. In October, DCCCA began coordinating prevention and education services for Douglas County after merging with the Douglas County Drug Abuse Council. Subsequently, multiple state correctional facilities introduced alcohol and drug treatment programs later that year.
The escalation of activities at the Regional Prevention Center, a hub for combating substance abuse issues in Northeast Kansas, coupled with the integration of youth initiatives such as the Governor’s Center for Teen Leadership, prompted the Board of Directors to establish a restricted endowment for organizational growth in 1988. In the subsequent year, to mirror the broadening of services beyond Douglas County, the agency was renamed from Douglas County Citizens Committee on Alcoholism, Inc. to DCCCA, Inc.
1990s: Pioneer Programs and Mergers
In the 1990s, state contracts enabled DCCCA to start offering specialized treatment services for women and their children. The first Women’s Recovery Center program was launched in Topeka in January 1991, with subsequent programs in Wichita and Hoisington. During that period, Wichita also inaugurated a Day Reporting Center, delivering intensive case management services to juvenile offenders and their families. Later in the decade, under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, DCCCA initiated the Youth Leadership Development Project, which offered training and technical assistance to 22 Native American tribes and 35 public housing sites across the United States.
In 1996, the mergers with Recovery Services Council in Wichita and First Step House in Lawrence greatly expanded DCCCA’s residential alcohol and drug treatment services. Yet, the most notable change in DCCCA’s service offerings came that same year when it secured the Sedgwick County Family Preservation Services contract. Following this, DCCCA shifted its focus to program activities designed to fortify and preserve Kansas families.
2000s: Embracing Family Services
As a Child Placing Agency since 2001, DCCCA supports families through the fostering and adoption journey, recruiting, training, and providing ongoing support to foster families. CPA staff are available 24/7 to assist foster parents with any issues or emergencies, ensuring foster homes offer a stable and nurturing environment for children with diverse needs.
Elm Acres, a provider of alcohol and drug treatment services for youth, partnered with DCCCA in 2004, expanding to include other residential services and foster care in Southeast Kansas.
For over two decades, DCCCA Traffic Safety has been delivering education and resources to Kansas communities. It provides traffic safety programs, training, and materials on diverse topics suitable for all age groups. Beyond Kansas, DCCCA has extended its traffic safety programs to Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma, focusing on initiatives that address novice drivers, promote seatbelt usage, prevent impaired driving and underage drinking, and enhance motorcycle safety awareness.
DCCCA’s Prevention initiatives cover Kansas and Oklahoma, designing and developing learning modules and training resources that focus on substance abuse prevention, mental health promotion, suicide prevention, and problem gambling prevention. DCCCA equips communities in these states with the education, resources, and training needed to prevent substance use by leveraging local partnerships, key data, and evidence-based practices. Addressing the prescription drug and opioid crisis in Kansas, DCCCA implements the Strategic Prevention Framework for Prescription Drugs (SPF-Rx) initiative. It also provides free medication disposal resources to encourage safe medication use, storage, and transport, thus helping to prevent accidental poisoning. Additionally, DCCCA distributes free naloxone (Narcan) nasal spray and offers training to community organizations and residents of Kansas. DCCCA is available for strategic planning and meeting facilitation services for various organizations.
In Pratt, DCCCA introduced Intensive Outpatient services in January 2018, after joining the community in July 2016. This service level, new to Southwest Kansas, allows individuals to undergo treatment for substance use disorders without disrupting their community and home life.
DCCCA resumed Family Preservation services on January 1, 2020, focusing on specialized in-home services to prevent children from entering foster care, with particular attention to families affected by substance use. DCCCA operates in five counties in the Kansas City area (Atchison, Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte) and ten counties around Wichita (Barber, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Harper, Kingman, Pratt, Sedgwick, and Sumner).
Today: Developing Caring Communities Committed to Action
DCCCA’s mission now extends across multiple states, offering social and community services that improve the safety, health, and well-being of those we serve. Through various programs in Behavioral Health, Prevention, Traffic Safety, Family Preservation, Foster Care, Quality Improvement and Evaluation, and more.
Our Commitment to the Future
DCCCA remains dedicated to its community commitment by delivering essential human services that elevate the lives of adults, youth, and children.