States will receive a total of $17 million from the U.S. Department of Justice to enforce underage-drinking laws, the Office of Justice Programs announced Aug. 2.

The Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) block-grant program will provide a minimum of $350,000 to every state and the District of Columbia to enforce state and local youth drinking laws and educate the public about such laws. "These awards support law enforcement agencies' efforts to more aggressively implement underage drinking laws and help create partnerships with parents, youth, schools and communities to monitor adolescent activities," said Regina B. Schofield, assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs.

Activities supported by the grants include compliance checks of retail alcohol outlets, crackdowns on fake IDs, preventing adults from buying alcohol for underage youths, police efforts to prevent and break up youth alcohol parties, and "cops in shops" programs to deter youth alcohol purchases.