By Lantana McKenley
Prevention Services of Baldwin County Mental Health Center has received a grant from the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation to implement a campaign to address underage drinking in Baldwin County.
The name of the committee that’s currently working toward halting underage drinking is called the Baldwin County Community Alliance (BCCA). The BCCA, composed of 20 community agencies and over 30 members, meets regularly to discuss strategies to target underage drinking.
The BCCA will host an underage non-drinking event “Foley Pride: Proud to be Free,” today at Waterville from 6-10 p.m. The event is open to 700 ninth to 12th graders at Foley High School. Admission includes students signing a drug-free pledge card and wearing a drug-free bracelet. “Foley Pride: Proud to be Free,” is another way that BCCA is demonstrating to teens that having fun doesn’t have to include drugs or alcohol.
The committee highlighted this problem as its primary focus for 2006/2007 after a needs assessment was conducted through various data sources to determine the magnitude of the problem among area youth.
The BCCA’s environmental strategy seeks to change community norms and attitudes through multiple media campaigns. The goal of this strategy has been to increase community awareness of the negative effects that alcohol can have on youths, change community norms and attitudes that are favorable towards underage drinking, and decrease county statistics of teens who participate in underage drinking.
The BCCA also uses this strategy to form partnerships with parents to educate them on how underage drinking is often a precursor for further involvement with alcohol and other substance use and abuse, demonstrate consequences of involvement for both parents and youth, and provide an understanding of how risk and protective factors play a role in everyday decisions.
In addition, the BCCA educates youth on the dangers of underage drinking through various strategies that include media campaigns, billboards, education and informative materials that are internet accessible, drug-free activities and contests, radio spots, and youth advocacy groups just to name a few.
The BCCA kicked off a media campaign this year to combat the growing problem of underage drinking. Two television commercials, one targeting parents and the other targeting teens, began airing in March on FOX 10 and WBPG the Gulf Coast CW.
In addition, the BCCA and FOX10 TV hosted a commercial contest which was open to all sixth to 12th graders in Baldwin County. Students were asked to outline TV commercial showing the negative impact of underage drinking. A winner was selected from each school and the county-wide winners had their commercials filmed and were given the opportunity to appear in the commercials, which are running on FOX 10 and WPBG the Gulf Coast CW.
For more information on the BCCA, contact Lantana McKenley at 990-4233 or ldm_bcmhc@yahoo.com.
The BCCA is made up of:
Alabama ABC Board Enforcement Division
Baldwin Youth Services
Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Service
Baldwin County Boys & Girls Clubs
Baldwin County District Attorney’s Office
Ecumenical Services
Baldwin County Health Department
Gulf Coast Newspapers Inc.
Baldwin County Judicial Volunteer Program
South Baldwin Chamber Foundation
Baldwin County Juvenile Probation
Bay Minette Police Department
Baldwin County Mental Health Center
Daphne Police Department
Baldwin County Public School System
Foley Police Department
Baldwin County Regional Detention Center
Orange Beach Police Department
Baldwin County Department of Human Resources
Foley Snook YMCA
