California Counties to Address Binge Drinking October 8, 2004
Communities in Action Thirteen California counties, including Demand Treatment! Partners Sacramento and San Diego, will share $10.2 million over three years to reduce binge drinking in their communities, according to a September 17 press release from the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.Over a three-year period, the state will distribute annual grants to counties to support local prevention efforts, with a particular focus on binge drinking among 12-25 year olds and its impact on communities.
"Binge drinking is a community problem that affects us all and will only be solved at the local level by working together to make a change in the way that society views binge drinking by our youth," said Kathryn Jett, director of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Problems. "These funds will help communities develop effective strategies to reduce binge drinking, particularly on college campuses."
Sacramento County is working with four local prevention and educational agencies to implement its SIG project. Project Help, California State University, People Reaching Out and the Sacramento County of Education will work to engage Sacramento in making strategic environmental and policy changes. Sacramento County plans to review several model programs to implement following the planning year, including Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol, Challenging College Alcohol Abuse, and Community Trials Intervention to Reduce High-Risk Drinking.
San Diego County will utilize its network of regional community collaboratives to expand the current Underage Drinking Initiative to include youth and young adult binge drinking. San Diego County's location on the U.S./Mexico border presents a unique challenge with the drinking age in Mexico being 18. In addition, San Diego contains a young, transient population of military personnel and their families, as well as students that attend the 12 colleges and universities in the county. The County's Policy Panel on Youth Access to Alcohol, which provides strategic leadership of the initiative, will create two new sub-groups (Data and Cultural) to address the specific needs of all county youth aged 12 to 16 and young adults aged 18-25 through environmental prevention strategies.
Other counties that received funding include: Alameda, Humboldt, Marin, Mendocino, Mono, Orange, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Stanislaus, and Ventura.
For more information about the State Incentive Grant, go to: www.adp.ca.gov.
