The plan of action to break the costly cycle of harm 100% Community by Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD and Dominic Cappello delivers a data-driven strategy to prevent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trauma.
A Groundbreaking Strategy
100% Community is the nation’s first data-driven, cross-sector and county-focused strategy developed to end the epidemic of adverse childhood experiences, trauma and social adversity. It provides the insights, frameworks and concrete steps for change agents within governmental and nongovernmental systems to build the capacity to increase the health, safety and resilience of children, students and families.

Trauma passed down (or prevented) generation after generation
ACEs, including all forms of neglect and abuse, are behaviors that can be passed from parent to child. The cycle of childhood trauma due to ACEs can be stopped with a local system of parent supports and health and safety services.Click above to learn their stories.*
*fictional stories
Empowering 100% of Our Communities
The underlying assumption of 100% Community is that governmental and nongovernmental systems can, when guided by data and innovative leadership, provide the vital services needed to ensure a healthy, safe and resilient society, one where children, students, families and communities are trauma-free and thriving. The more effective the systems are in meeting the needs and goals of its residents of all ages, the more society benefits by developing well-adapted, educated and productive citizens. The goal of 100% Community is to help state, county, city and education systems function at peak performance, through a process of continuous quality improvement, that provides all residents with a positive user experience and empowerment.
Successful cities and counties empower everyone. 100% Community shows the way leaders and all residents work together to achieve meaningful and measurable results.

ACEs and Traumatized Students
Instead of learning and socializing at school, in some classrooms a third to three-quarters of students may have three or more ACEs. They may be marginalized at school, perceived by teachers as being disengaged or acting out. Students may worry more about what adversity awaits them at home instead of doing math homework. Click above to learn their stories.*
*fictional stories
100% Community Is Your Plan of Action
If you believe that all children should grow up with the resources to be trauma-free and empowered to succeed, 100% Community is for you. If you enjoy using data, technology and a collaborative process, with a focus on problem-solving and big picture thinking on an agency and systems level, the capacity-building process outlined in 100% Community may be what you’ve been looking for.
By working on a county scale with buy-in from local elected leadership and stakeholders, a locality can achieve groundbreaking results, reducing ACEs and trauma while raising the quality of family, community, educational and economic life for all residents.

Social adversity in the classroom
Students can have a well-functioning family and be growing up without ACEs or low ACEs scores. They may still confront many forms of adversity that impact their capacity to learn and be safe from community violence..*
*fictional stories
Preventing Trauma and Social Adversity
Much of the knowledge you gain through 100% Community has a double benefit. In addition to giving you professional preparation for a new career, or professional development in a current career, your reading is also directly applicable to improving the quality of the lives of children, students and family members in your county. 100% Community provides skills to be effective change agents and resources to address the inevitable push back to change, including the social and political issues that confront all of us in daily life at home, school, work and in the community.
Stay informed about 100% Community
100% Community focuses on strengthening the skills of future and current elected, community, and agency leaders in governmental and nongovernmental agencies in continuous quality improvement to ensure vital services meet the needs of 100% of residents.
100% Community Includes:
Foreword by Bill Soules, PhD: How Many of Our Children Should Endure Trauma?
Introduction: We’re Ready when You Are
Part 1: 100%: Why Every Child and Family Can Thrive
Part 2: Community: In Your County, 100 People Can Solve Everything
Part 3: Countdown to 100%: Implementing our Radically Simple Strategy
Part 4: Workbook for Action Teams
Appendices: An extensive collection of resources

100% Community is your operating manual
100% Community is being used to support state, city and county agencies as they develop innovations to increase the quality and accessibility of ten vital surviving and thriving services. The trauma-prevention strategy is data-driven, cross-sector and strengthened by technology.*
*fictional representations
The Results-Focused Strategies
The authors’ main thesis, quite simply, is that protecting all our children is entirely possible, but only when we know the scope of the challenges faced by families in each unique community. The book provides a detailed, data-driven analysis of the scope of the problem and how to strengthen ten key systems, called “survival services” and “thriving services,” designed to protect 100% of our children and strengthen families and communities. The proven strategies proposed have the power to heal families, illustrating how we can all take courageous and compassionate steps toward designing family-focused and child-centered communities. 100% Community is serving as the guide for data-driven ACEs prevention programs — from New Mexico to Arizona and Kentucky.
Survival Services
Thriving Services
Special Editions and Sector-Specific Workbooks
100% Community is also available in a series of special editions and workbooks tailored to every one of the 10 sectors. They will be available both as digital editions and in print to facilitate training and launching strategic initiatives. We will have more information about these publications in the coming weeks, so please sign up to receive alerts about 100% Community at the bottom of this page.
About the Authors
Leading a Movement to Ensure Safe Childhoods
Leaders in the data-driven prevention of childhood trauma, Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD and Dominic Cappello met while working on quality improvement within child welfare in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In the wake of a high-profile child fatality in the state, they wrote Anna, Age Eight: The data-driven prevention of childhood trauma and maltreatment. The book led to a bi-partisan legislative campaign and the creation of the Anna, Age Eight Institute, which opened in July of 2019.
Dr. Ortega Courtney and Cappello wrote the follow-up book, 100% Community: Ensuring trauma-free and thriving children, students and families, to guide local leadership in every county in their work designing truly family-friendly cities and towns. The institute’s ground-breaking work is leading a national movement to ensure safe and successful childhoods.
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Contact
For more information on the ACEs survey, research, prevention strategies, and school, campus and workplace policies on ACEs, please contact us.