Children / Child Welfare | Health
Setting Goals to Improve North Carolina’s Youth Behavioral Health
March 16, 2026
by Abigail Holdsclaw, ncIMPACT Lead Community-Based Researcher
Carolina Across 100 (CX100) has partnered with 10 teams representing 18 counties across the state through the Community-Driven Approaches for Resilient and Empowered Youth (CARE4Youth) program over the past year. The size of this cohort is larger than anticipated, reflecting the need for behavioral health support and eagerness of community leaders to respond. So, what have we all been up to meet the pressing mental and behavioral health challenges of North Carolina youth
University Support
The CX100 team has provided a variety of valuable resources to the CARE4Youth teams, leveraging the expertise of University and community partners to improve community capacity to improve youth and young adults' behavioral health.
Trained teams in ncIMPACT's model of collaboration, the ncIMPACT Sync Model. By learning about this model for cross-sector collaboration, teams are able to more effectively collaborate, build momentum, and sustain systems changes to address their community's most pressing challenges.
Built their skills to locate and understand relevant data sources, engaging youth, and identify, adapt, and implement evidence-based approaches to improve youth behavioral health across multiple settings, such as schools, online spaces, and in the home. This instruction, delivered through webinars and forums, connects teams directly with University experts who are ready to help community leaders who may not typically provide mental health services with the necessary skills to support youth.
CARE4Youth team members learn directly from leading University and statewide partners
Facilitated connections between teams during forums to encourage teamwork and collaboration. The teams have provided feedback on each other's plans and work, shared information about available resources, and discussed what approaches they've taken in their communities to serve youth. Facilitating moments of connection, trust-building, and information sharing between teams from different parts of the state who likely would not otherwise meet enables the teams to accomplish more than if they continued to pursue this important work alone.
"My favorite moment [from the forum] was communicating with other teams and networking!" -CARE4Youth team member
"My favorite moment [from the forum] was going into the breakout sessions and collaborating and networking with the other group. Being able to hear their "why" was inspirational and motivating." -CARE4Youth team member
Teams often provide feedback on the work of others in the collaborative, pushing them to dream big about what they can accomplish for their community
Connected teams with campus and community leaders working on youth engagement, support, and mental health systems to provide the teams with ample information about replicable, effective practices. These partners have included the Boys & Girls Club, CaroNova, CHAAMP, El Futuro, NAMI NC, NC Child, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, UNC School of Education, UNC School of Social Work, UNC Sheps Center for Health Services Research.
These sessions have provided actionable takeaways related to youth outreach and engagement as teams seek to ensure their work is co-designed with those it’s meant to serve.
“[My favorite part of the forum was] learning to have the youth design the flyers for the events we are hosting for their benefit [and] the importance of youth voice and involvement – I am re-energized to achieve that!”
Provided Financial support for travel and local program managers. This funding ensures that partners from across the state are able to attend in-person learning forums, and compensates the time of program managers organizing, tracking, and reporting their collaborative’s work.
Provided student-made tools to support their work through the 2026 POV Challenge. These products equip the teams with new ways to understand, discuss, and educate others about the experiences of youth and young adults.
“My favorite part of the forum were the student creations and looking at the creative ways to spread information. It was a great opportunity to connect with young people and explore.” -CARE4Youth team member
Local Progress
Over the last year, teams have made incredible progress organizing their collaboratives, expanding their subject-matter knowledge, and defining what success would look like in their communities and across the state.
"My favorite experience from the forum was learning about other people's success stories and how they implement their plans to reach their goals. It was good to hear how groups have overcome barriers and help build and grow their communities." -CARE4Youth team member
Why set a cohort-wide goal?
SMART goals allow the CX100 and CARE4Youth teams to track progress across the cohort and identify areas where additional support may be needed. Perhaps more importantly, the goals motivate and unify the teams.
In previous CX100 programs, setting cohort-wide goals has motivated individual teams, as they see how their work contributes to a larger, state-wide impact. By agreeing on a collective goal, CARE4Youth teams have agreed to hold one another accountable and support their peers in meeting their commitment to the cohort-wide goal.
"I really loved the feeling of getting with my team and aligning our goals with cohort goals. It made me feel like I was truly apart of something bigger." -CARE4Youth team member
Why set a cohort-wide goal?
SMART goals allow the CX100 and CARE4Youth teams to track progress across the cohort and identify areas where additional support may be needed. Perhaps more importantly, the goals motivate and unify the teams.
In previous CX100 programs, setting cohort-wide goals has motivated individual teams, as they see how their work contributes to a larger, state-wide impact. By agreeing on a collective goal, CARE4Youth teams have agreed to hold one another accountable and support their peers in meeting their commitment to the cohort-wide goal.
"I really loved the feeling of getting with my team and aligning our goals with cohort goals. It made me feel like I was truly apart of something bigger." -CARE4Youth team member
How were the CARE4Youth goals set?
These goals were formed through a collaborative process between the CX100 and CARE4youth teams to ensure that the goals are relevant and appropriate for their communities. We followed the following process:
- The CX100 team set starting goals
- The categories of prevention, intervention, and youth engagement were set based on the stated priorities of the CARE4Youth teams.
- Numeric targets were set for each team, showing what they might contribute to the overall, cohort-wide goal.
- Numeric targets were calculated roughly based on the population of the county/counties represented by the given CARE4Youth team. For those with a population of more than 50,000, a target of 500 was set.
- The CARE4youth teams reviewed the goals
- They were provided the data and calculations that informed the goals
- The teams discussed what changes (increases/decreases) they would make to the goals based on their local context.
- These changes were informed by the spread of their population, team capacity, or available resources
- The CARE4Youth teams provided their new planned contribution to the cohort goals to the CX100 team
- The CX100 team recalculated the cohort goal based on the teams’ planned contributions, and the new cohort goals were set!
What are the CARE4Youth SMART goals important?
- CARE4Youth SMART Goal #1, PREVENTION: 5,328 community members from the CARE4Youth counties will be equipped to prevent youth mental health and related issues through their training in evidence-based interventions or other training for youth and young adults by June 30, 2028.
- CARE4Youth SMART Goal #2, INTERVENTION: Provide 3,070 services to youth and young adults in the CARE4Youth counties to respond to their behavioral health needs by June 30, 2028.
- CARE4Youth SMART Goal #3, YOUTH-CENTERED: Involve 102 youth in the co-design and/or co-delivery of CARE4Youth activities by June 30, 2028, with 75% reporting the engagements are a good use of their time.
What will the CARE4Youth teams do next?
In the second year of the CARE4Youth program, teams will continue their important work by…
As these teams continue to lead impressive efforts to improve youth behavioral health in their communities, we look forward to sharing all we are learning so other communities across North Carolina may benefit from their work.
They are confident that they can act as a shining example for the state.
"We have a well-experienced and well-educated team. We are open to being challenged to grow and to be inform[ed] by the perspectives of our youth and communities. We are committed to partnership and consensus." -CARE4Youth team member
Carolina Across 100 is a five-year initiative, led by the ncIMPACT Initiative, seeking to support community-driven recovery and build sustainable efforts in all 100 counties by providing human resources, data insights, coaching, facilitation, coordination efforts, and program design. “Our State, Our Homes” is the fifth program in this larger initiative. Carolina Across 100 is funded by the Office of the Chancellor and private foundations.
The ncIMPACT Initiative coordinates Carolina Across 100. ncIMPACT is a statewide initiative launched by the UNC School of Government in 2017 to help local communities use data and evidence to improve conditions and inform decision making. Visit ncimpact.org.
