In The Beginning
DCCCA, Inc. was founded in 1974 in response to community concerns for individuals who struggled with alcohol abuse. In the summer of 1974, the agency began offering alcohol abuse treatment services in Lawrence with an initial budget of $25,000 per year. In the early years of operation, the agency’s two paid staff members spent countless hours on a grassroots communication campaign to make the community aware of the resources now available for people with an alcohol use disorder.
Expansion
In September of 1978, alcohol abuse treatment services expanded into six other Kansas counties. With the addition of these “satellite offices”, DCCCA became known as the Northeast Kansas Counseling and Resource Center. As a result, the initial founders recognized the potential for an extensive network of prevention services reaching beyond Douglas County.
Statewide Exposure
January 1981 marked the official launch of DCCCA’s first statewide effort. The Kansas Community Alcohol Safety Action Project, funded by the Kansas Department of Transportation, allowed the agency to assist in the establishment of Alcohol Safety Action Projects in Kansas. ASAP promotes educational activities, reducing impaired driving and creating information and databases about drunk driving. The coordination of prevention and education services for Douglas County began in October when DCCCA merged with the Douglas County Drug Abuse Council. Later that year, several state correctional facilities implemented alcohol and drug treatment programs.
Regional Prevention Center
Increased activity in the Regional Prevention Center, which serves as a resource to prevent substance abuse problems in Northeast Kansas, and the acquisition of youth training programs like the Governor’s Center for Teen Leadership, led the Board of Directors to create a restricted endowment for organizational development in 1988. To reflect expansion of services outside Douglas County, the agency’s legal name was changed from Douglas County Citizen’s Committee on Alcoholism, Inc. to DCCCA, Inc. the following year.
Women’s Recovery Centers
In the 1990’s, several state contracts allowed DCCCA to begin providing specialized treatment services for women and their dependent children. Topeka hosted the first Women’s Recovery Center program, which opened in January of 1991. Similar programs in Wichita and Hoisington followed. At that time, Wichita also started a Day Reporting Center, which provided intensive case management services to juvenile offenders and their families. Later that decade, DCCCA implemented the Youth Leadership Development Project under a cooperative agreement with the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The project provided training and technical assistance to 22 Native American tribes and 35 public housing sites within the United States.
Major Mergers
In 1996, mergers with Recovery Services Council, Wichita, and First Step House, Lawrence, significantly increased the capacity of DCCCA’s residential alcohol and drug treatment services. However, perhaps the most significant shift in the types of services DCCCA provided also occurred in 1996 when DCCCA won the Sedgwick County Family Preservation Services contract. Afterward, DCCCA began to concentrate its efforts on programming activities which helped to strengthen and maintain Kansas families.
Elm Acres
Elm Acres, a multi-site provider of alcohol and drug treatment services for youth, partnered with DCCCA in 2004. At this time, other residential services for youth and foster care in Southeast Kansas were also added.
Pratt
DCCCA joined the Pratt community in July 2016 and added Intensive Outpatient services in January 2018, which was a new level of care not previously available in Southwest Kansas. Intensive Outpatient services allows individuals to receive treatment for substance use disorders while maintaining their role in the community and at home.
Child Placing Agency
DCCCA began providing Child Placing Agency services in 2001 and assists families throughout the fostering and adoption process. DCCCA recruits, trains and provides ongoing support to foster families. CPA staff are on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help address any concerns or emergencies foster parents may encounter. Our foster homes provide a stable, caring environment to children of all ages with a wide range of individual needs.
Family Preservation
DCCCA began providing Family Preservation services again on January 1, 2020. DCCCA’s focus is to deliver specialized in-home services for families that will prevent children from entering the foster care system. DCCCA has specialized intervention for substance use involved families. DCCCA serves five counties in the Kansas City region (Atchison, Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth and Wyandotte) and 10 counties surrounding Wichita (Barber, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Harper, Kingman, Pratt, Sedgwick and Sumner).
Community Based Services
DCCCA’s Prevention initiatives span two states: Kansas and Oklahoma. Prevention services programs design and develop learning modules and training resources focused on substance abuse prevention, mental health promotion, suicide prevention, and problem gambling prevention. DCCCA provides communities in Kansas and Oklahoma with education, resources and training support on how to prevent substance use utilizing local partners, key data, and evidence-based practices. DCCCA Prevention is addressing the prescription drug and opioid crisis in Kansas through the Strategic Prevention Framework for Prescription Drugs (SPF-Rx) initiative. DCCCA offers free medication disposal resources to promote safe use, storage, and transportation of medication and help to prevent accidental poisoning. In addition, DCCCA distributes free naloxone (Narcan) nasal spray and facilitates training to community organizations and any Kansas resident. DCCCA is also available to develop strategic planning and meeting facilitation services for organizations.
Traffic Safety
For more than 20 years, DCCCA Traffic Safety has provided education and resources to communities in Kansas. DCCCA offers traffic safety programs, trainings, and materials on a variety of topics for all ages. In addition to our work in Kansas, DCCCA has expanded traffic safety programs in Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma. The team focuses on measures dealing with novice drivers, increasing seatbelt use, preventing impaired driving and underage drinking and raising motorcycle safety awareness.
Developing Caring Communities Committed to Action
Today, DCCCA’s mission has broadened, covering multiple states and provides social and community services that improve the safety, health, and well-being of those we serve. Through Behavioral Health, Prevention, Traffic Safety, Family Preservation, Foster Care, Quality Improvement and other programs, DCCCA continues to honor its commitment to the community by providing valuable human services that help enrich and improve the quality of life for adults, youth and children. In 2024, DCCCA celebrated its 50th anniversary.
