OASAS Announces Grants for Underage Drinking Prevention

ALBANY, NY (03/27/2008)(readMedia)-- State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) Commissioner Karen M. Carpenter-Palumbo today announced funding to support underage drinking prevention programs in communities across New York.

Funds totaling $165,000 are being awarded to 17 prevention providers, colleges and universities as part of OASAS prevention strategies aimed at educating parents and youth on the risks of underage drinking. The awards will allow community-based groups to expand media awareness campaigns which include the national, award-winning Underage Drinking: Not a Minor Problem campaign.

“This aspect of our prevention efforts is aimed at the local communities where we must change attitudes and behaviors among parents and adolescents on underage drinking,” said Commissioner Carpenter-Palumbo. “Underage drinking is illegal and dangerous. There are far too many stories of young people whose lives have been ruined because of the influence of alcohol.”

According to the International Institute for Alcohol Awareness, underage drinking cost the citizens of New York $3.2 billion in 2005. In addition, by their senior year of high school, nearly four out of five students have consumed alcohol. Underage drinking can also lead to unplanned and unprotected sexual activity, poor school performance, driving while intoxicated, and even death.

Commissioner Carpenter-Palumbo continued, “Our young people are the future of this great state, and we at OASAS will do all that we can to educate them on the dangers and consequences of underage drinking.”

Evidence-based prevention strategies are a key component of the OASAS mission to improve the lives of New Yorkers by leading a premier system of addiction services through prevention, treatment, recovery. More than 250 of the 1,550 OASAS certified or funded programs throughout the state are dedicated to prevention. More information is available at the agency web site, www.OASAS.state.ny.us. Anyone seeking help or information about alcohol or other substance abuse problems can call the 24-hour helpline at 1-800-522-5353.

The funding period for this award is February 13, 2008, through May 31, 2008. Although all expenses must be incurred by May 31, 2008, the media campaign implementation may continue through March 31, 2009.

A list of awardees, including funding amount, is below:

Leatherstocking Education on Alcoholism and Addictions Foundations (LEAF, INC) ($10,000)

  • To educate the community using a variety of media strategies including information dissemination, PSAs, and a conference highlighting the dangers of underage drinking on the developing adolescent brain. Targeting middle and high school youth, their parents, educators and youth serving organizations in Otsego County, the campaign will utilize radio advertising, theater ads, bus signs, banners and the Internet.

Syracuse University ($10,000)

  • To use multi-media advertising and a public relations campaign to send Underage Drinking: Not a Minor Problem messages to underage college students and their families. A three-phase media campaign will maximize reach among students during high-risk periods by advertising in the college paper, local public TV and radio stations.

Wagner College ($8,240)

  • To educate and promote awareness among underage college students and their parents through peer education groups, information dissemination, prevention message/images, web-based education, and advertising through local/college newspapers, radio and television. The campaign will emphasize the importance of alcohol-free activities using a social norms approach.

HFM Prevention Council ($10,000)

  • To educate the community through a media awareness campaign utilizing radio, print, television and the Internet. Posters, fact cards, information sheets and PSAs taken from the Underage Drinking: Not a Minor Problem will be utilized to promote a “no-use” message. An underage drinking prevention video entitled ‘this place’ will be shown on local cable channels.

Research Foundation of SUNY Buffalo ($9,958)

  • To collaborate with the Erie County Sheriff’s Office to develop a media awareness campaign targeting higher-risk populations with environmentally-based “no-use” messages. Prevention messages and information will be promoted through static cinema ads, billboard advertising and the dissemination of pamphlets/fact sheets.

Dept. of Education, Diocese of Brooklyn ($10,000)

  • To conduct a media awareness campaign in an effort to counter the current marketing and advertising of alcohol to students in grades 6-12 and in the community. Utilizing mass-media venues such as radio, cinema ads and billboards, the campaign will promote prevention messages taken from the Underage Drinking: Not a Minor Problem Campaign.

Alcohol and Substance Abuse Council of Jefferson County ($9, 465)

  • To educate community members, including 17,000 soldiers based on Fort Drum, about the problems resulting from underage drinking and to promote a no-use message through a multi-media campaign. Using radio, television, newspaper and the Internet, the campaign will use social norming techniques to demonstrate that underage drinking is not the standard of underage youth in Jefferson County.

Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Inc. ($10,000)

  • To implement the Underage Drinking: Not a Minor Problem media campaign targeting college students, middle and high school students and parents in the community. Utilizing radio PSA messages, newspaper advertising and broadcasting the underage drinking prevention video “this place” on local channels the campaign will promote a no-use message and alcohol-free activities for underage youth.

Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse of Livingston County, Inc. ($9,887)

  • To conduct a media awareness campaign targeting adults and college students through the use of newspaper advertising (including letters to the Editor), static cinema ads, radio and information dissemination. The campaign will utilize counter marketing/counter advertising strategies in an attempt to raise awareness about the hazards and risks of underage alcohol use.

Mohawk Valley Council on Alcoholism/Addictions, Inc. ($10,000)

  • To implement a multi-media prevention campaign targeting individuals, families, community organizations and schools who work and live with adolescents/young adults ages 12-20. The campaign will utilize billboards, TV, newspaper, town hall meetings and websites to promote a prevention messages.

Seven Valleys Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Inc. ($10,000)

  • To conduct a mass media campaign addressing both favorable parental attitudes towards alcohol consumption as well as youth perception of risk. Disseminating current, accurate information through the use of television, cinema, radio PSAs, posters and brochures, the campaign will promote a clear no-use message to the community.

The Alcohol and Substance Abuse Council of Saratoga ($9,985)

  • To implement a mass media awareness campaign targeting community members, parents and high school youth. The campaign will emphasize adult responsibility for eliminating youth access to alcohol and utilize information dissemination, newspaper advertising (including letters to the editor) and educational presentations to accomplish media goals. Additionally, the campaign will promote alcohol-free and sober activity for youth.

Pace University Counseling Center ($9,258)

  • To conduct a mass media campaign targeting college students, their parents and the college community emphasizing the role alcohol plays in suicide and other destructive and impulsive behaviors. The media campaign will challenge prevailing student and media attitudes that underage drinking is safe and normative for college students through the use of information dissemination, college radio and TV, educational presentations and posters.

Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Council of Orange County ($10,000)

  • To implement a multi-media campaign targeting community members in the town of Warwick including a significant migrant population. Working with other community organizations, the campaign will promote the Underage Drinking: Not a Minor Problem campaign as well as other prevention messages through press releases/conferences, newspaper advertising, information dissemination and presentations.

St. John’s University ($10,000)

  • To conduct the Underage Drinking: Not a Minor Problem media campaign targeting the undergraduate students and the surrounding community in the borough of Staten Island. St John’s will saturate the campus community with campaign materials through information dissemination, newspaper and radio advertising, and high visibility poster and banner placement. The campaign will be integrated into existing prevention initiatives that address high-risk periods (Spring Break Week).

Archdiocese of New York Drug and Prevention Program ($10,000)

  • To conduct a media campaign targeting the adult audience, specifically all the alcohol selling and serving businesses in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, New York. With a focus on changing community norms the campaign seeks to increase the number of businesses that do not sell alcohol to minors and to change the attitudes of adults/parents by increasing their awareness of the harmful effects of underage drinking.

Allegany Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Inc. ($10,000)

  • To implement a media awareness campaign targeting youth, adults and parents throughout Allegany County. Using local print and radio media the campaign will integrate campaign messages into existing prevention activities reaching many individuals throughout a large rural county. In addition, the campaign will propose to the Allegany County Legislature that April be designated as “Underage Drinking: Not a Minor Problem month in Allegany County.

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