Reduce underage drinking in southwest washington - in southwest washington state, alcohol is the most common substance used by youth, and we have a lack of social norms campaigns addressing this…

Reduce underage drinking in southwest washington - in southwest washington state, alcohol is the most common substance used by youth, and we have a lack of social norms campaigns addressing this specific substance use. Also, our region's schools need support in providing best practice education on dangers of alcohol use, updating their substance use discipline policies and practices, and would benefit from additional resources to support addressing the behavioral health needs of those youth. No programs are currently being implemented to address impaired driving or riding by youth. If funded, the prevent coalition would implement education, social media and social norms campaigns to reduce youth alcohol use and decrease instances of youth either driving after drinking, or riding with impaired drivers. We would work with schools to strengthen their policies to insure alcohol infractions were treated appropriately and to increase services to treat students for their use, instead of only using punishment. Local policy-makers and elected officials would be educated on our region's youth alcohol use and its consequences and on the policy tools that could impact those trends. We would be focusing on addressing the alcohol use of youth in grades 6 through 12, in southwest washington state. The communities served would include the urban and suburban clark county, with a population of 508,000 and the adjoining rural klickitat and skamania counties, with a total population of 34,000 people. There is a blend of urban, suburban and rural youth, and strategies will be tailored to address the specific needs and characteristics of the differing populations. The ethnicity demographics of the youth in the region are: white/caucasian 56%, one or more races 15%, hispanic 14%, asian 6%, black 3%, other 3% native hawaiian or pacific islander 2%, american indian 1%.