Based on prevention science, Kansas has invested in a collaborative prevention framework and a course of action to support those concerned about the healthy development of children and youth. The prevention infrastructure established over the past two decades supports an annual prevention needs/risk assessment process to: 1) maximize resources and prioritize risks across multiple domains (community, family, school, and peer); 2) provide trend data to track effectiveness; 3) promote ownership and collaboration across agencies, systems, and constituencies; and 4) place the "responsibility for adolescent health and behavior problems on identifiable risk factors and not "blame" individuals, groups, and agencies or systems.