- Grassroots Change · concert without being bombarded by alcohol advertising. l Communities don't have to live with the crime and blight created by problem bars and liquor stores

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Marin Institute

Solutions toCommunityAlcohol ProblemsA Roadmap for Environmental Prevention

Copyright © 2005 by Marin Institute

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,adapted, or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic ormechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording,presentations, or by any information storage and retrieval system,without written permission from the Marin Institute.

For information contact:

Marin Institute24 Belvedere StreetSan Rafael, CA 94901415-456-5692www.MarinInstitute.org

Additional copies available at www.MarinInstitute.org/roadmap

Publication and distribution of this document has been co-sponsored byJoin Together and the Youth Leadership Institute.

Special thanks to the American Medical Association, Office of Alcohol andOther Drug Abuse; Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America; FACE;New Futures; and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation fortheir input to this document.

The work of the Marin Institute, including production of this publication,is made possible with support from the Leonard and Beryl BuckFoundation.

Authors: Steven Bliss, Amon Rappaport and Laurie Leiber.

Design and Production: Tiffany Steeves, Marin Institute.

Retreat Staff: Leigh Steffy, Angela Goldberg (Facilitator) and JiNa Song.

Design and Illustration: Dave Bohn and Diana Davis, Upright Arts.

Printed on 15% Post-Consumer and 50% Recycled Paper.

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Table of Contents

How Can Environmental Prevention Help? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Who Is This Roadmap For? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

From Individual to Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Four Areas that Shape Community Alcohol Problems . . . . . . . 7

Environmental Prevention Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

The Power to Bring Communities Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Environmental Prevention in Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Moving Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

The Marin Institute convened a nationwide panel of experts in 2004 todevelop strategies for advancing environmental prevention as an effectiveapproach to creating healthy, safe communities free of alcohol-relatedproblems. The Marin Institute gratefully acknowledges those whoparticipated in the Environmental Prevention Retreat, which provided thebasis for this publication:

John Bunker, President, New Futures, Portsmouth, NH

Zelenne Cardenas, Program Manager, Social Model RecoverySystems, Los Angeles, CA

Edward C. Carlson, Executive Director, Odyssey House, NewOrleans, LA

Catherine Condon, Prevention Coordinator, Marin CountyDepartment of Health & Human Services

Michael Cunningham, Deputy Director, California Department ofAlcohol & Drug Programs

Judy Cushing, President & CEO, The Oregon Partnership

Lori Dorfman, Director, Berkeley Media Studies Group

Carol E. Hays, Managing Partner, Community SystemsInvestments International, Louisville, KY

Eduardo Hernandez, Deputy Director, Dissemination & CoalitionRelations, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America

Joan Kiley, Executive Director, Alcohol Policy Network,Berkeley, CA

Laurie Leiber, Manager, Media Advocacy, Marin Institute

Larry Meredith, Director, Marin County Department of Health &Human Services

Sharon O’Hara, Consultant, Novato, CA

Mark Pertschuk, Executive Director, Marin Institute

Linda Pratt, Program Director, (CommPre) CommunityPrevention of Alcohol-Related Problems, Hayward, CA

Amon Rappaport, Associate Director, Communications, MarinInstitute

Steven A. Schroeder, Distinguished Professor of Health andHealth Care, University of California, San Francisco

Maureen Sedonaen, President & CEO, Youth LeadershipInstitute, San Francisco, CA

Justice Gary Strankman (Ret.), Special Master, the Buck Trust

Wayne Sugita, Deputy Director, Los Angeles County Drug &Alcohol Programs

Friedner Wittman, Director, Prevention by Design, Berkeley, CA

Rich Yoast, Director, Reducing Underage Drinking throughCoalitions, American Medical Association, Office of Alcoholand Other Drug Abuse, Chicago, IL

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Introduction

How Can Environmental Prevention Help?

Remember when smoking was allowed on airplanes? Today, theairline smoking ban not only reduces exposure to second-handsmoke but also promotes nonsmoking as a social norm. This isan example of environmental prevention—changing policies,settings and community conditions to support healthy behaviorand discourage high-risk, unhealthy behavior.

This approach can help prevent alcohol problems by creatingcommunities that encourage safer choices with regard todrinking. Unlike alcohol prevention strategies that target theindividual and seek to affect behavior directly, environmentalprevention combats alcohol problems by changing theunderlying social and cultural factors that contribute to them—such as how alcohol is sold and advertised; when, where andhow it is available (especially for those underage); and what typesof drinking levels are considered socially acceptable and/orallowable.

For some, environmental prevention is a new way of thinkingabout alcohol problems. But many communities are alreadyusing this proven and science-based approach to reduceunderage drinking; alcohol-impaired driving; alcohol-relateddisease, injury and death; and alcohol-related crime andviolence.

Who Is This Roadmap For?

This Roadmap will help you understand environmentalprevention and how to support communities in using theapproach. With help from a group of national experts in thefield (see left) the Marin Institute developed this concise overviewof environmental prevention—how it works, how we know it iseffective, and how leaders at all levels can promote its use. ThisRoadmap is for public health practitioners, communityadvocates, elected officials, foundation leaders and others whowant to put environmental prevention strategies into action.

The following pages and the enclosed map include successstories and illustrations that bring the concepts to life, plusresources and concrete actions for taking environmentalprevention forward.

The Vision

Imagine a world free of the problems that result from theirresponsible sale, promotion and consumption of alcohol. A world where...

l Young people can attend asporting event, movie orconcert without beingbombarded byalcohol advertising.

l Communities don'thave to live withthe crime andblight created byproblem bars andliquor stores.

l There aren’t 17,000 deathseach year in the United Statesfrom alcohol-related vehicle crashes.

l Binge drinking is not accepted as a normal part of the highschool and college experiences.

l Individuals can enjoy parks and community events free frompublic drunkenness.

l Problems resulting from alcohol use and abuse don't costsociety almost $200 billion every year.

We can realize this vision. But getting there means creating a shiftin how communities approach alcohol problems.

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From Individual to Community

To most people, alcoholprevention meanschanging attitudes andbehavior at theindividual level, suchas helping peopleavoid problembehaviors likeexcessive drinking ordriving under theinfluence. Somecommon individuallyfocused strategies includeeducation on the risks ofdrinking, counseling for thoseat risk of alcohol abuse or addiction,and skills-development and mentoring that increase individualresistance to engaging in high-risk drinking.

Science-based, individually focused prevention can be effectivein achieving certain outcomes. But alcohol-related behaviordoes not occur in isolation. Rather, it is shaped by our physicaland social settings. To be effective in reducing alcoholproblems, communities must take shared responsibility forcreating conditions that support positive choices about alcohol.This is especially true in communities saturated with alcohol

outlets, pro-alcohol messages, and normsthat endorse underage alcohol use. Themost effective, comprehensive preventionapproach includes environmentalstrategies.

Environmental prevention aims toproduce much larger effects by creatingcommunities that promote healthybehaviors and attitudes, and reduce high-risk behaviors, associated with alcoholuse. Environmental prevention can helpreduce alcohol problems and harm toindividuals, families and communitiesby altering multiple community factors:laws and regulations, business practices,

Communitiesmust takesharedresponsibilityfor creatingconditionsthat supportpositivechoices aboutalcohol.

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enforcement priorities, shared values about acceptable orunacceptable behavior, ease of access to alcohol, andadvertising and media messages.

Unlike individually focused strategies, environmentalprevention can impact the entire community. This gives it animportant advantage in reducing alcohol problems over thelong term. Also, because environmental prevention changesthe community context in which alcohol use and abuse occur, itcan increase the impact both of individually focused preventionand of alcohol treatment, while supporting lifelong abstinencefor people in recovery from alcoholism.

It's in the Air We Breathe: Environmental Prevention and Smoking

To better understand this approach, consider howenvironmental prevention has been used to take on anotherpublic health problem: smoking. “Clean indoor air” laws, whichban smoking in a variety of public places (offices, restaurants,theaters), have been adopted by nearly 2,000 communitiesnationwide. Advocates have used regulatory and legal means to

curtail tobacco ads that target minors,such as the infamous cartoon-style “JoeCamel” campaign. Further,communities have stepped upenforcement of laws barring the sale oftobacco to young people. By changinghow tobacco is sold and advertised andby creating social norms that discouragesmoking, these environmentalstrategies have significantly reduced theharm caused by smoking.Environmental approaches have thepotential to create similarly largereductions in alcohol problems.

Environmental

strategies have

significantly

reduced the

harm caused

by smoking.

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Four Areas that Shape Community Alcohol Problems

Effective environmental prevention efforts target each of theseareas that influence alcohol problems.

Area Solutions

Community NormsThe unwritten rules concerningacceptable behavior in a givensetting have the power toencourage or discourage high-riskdrinking and other alcoholproblems.

l Promote public events(fairs, concerts, etc.) that arealcohol-free or that followrigorous ResponsibleBeverage Service guidelinesfor the sale of alcoholicbeverages.

l Expose and stop predatoryalcohol marketing practices.

Access and AvailabilityA variety of alcohol problems—such as underage drinking,drinking and driving, violence,safety problems, and chronicdisease—have been linked to easyavailability of alcohol.

l Monitor and vigorouslyenforce compliance withalcohol laws—includingthose barring underagesales.

l Cut off beer sales at sportingevents at least one hourbefore the game ends.

Media MessagesAdvertising, entertainment andother media messages oftenglamorize excessive drinking,especially among teens and youngadults, and tend to solely blameindividuals for alcohol problems.Plus, alcohol advertising iswidespread in most communities.

l Call on film studios and thealcohol industry to ceasealcohol product placementsin PG-13 movies.

l Conduct media outreach toincrease news coverage ofcommunity changes thathave reduced alcohol-relatedproblems.

Policy and EnforcementPolicies in the public sector (states,counties, cities, school districts)and the private sector (businesses,social clubs), and enforcement ofthose policies, shape how alcohol ispromoted, sold and consumed.

l Require ResponsibleBeverage Service trainingfor sellers and servers.

l Establish local zoningordinances that restrict thenumber of alcohol outlets ina neighborhood.

Environmental Prevention Works

Environmental prevention is backed by evidence. Researchstudies and program evaluations prove that environmentalstrategies can effectively combat underage drinking, alcohol-impaired driving, alcohol-related disease, irresponsiblemarketing practices, illegal sales of alcohol and a variety of otherproblems. Highlights from the growing base of research insupport of environmental prevention include:

“Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility,”National Academy of Sciences, 2003Commissioned by Congress, this landmark report identifiedstrategies for reducing drinking among the under-21 population.The study places a strong emphasis on environmental strategies,recommending such approaches as: stronger enforcement oflaws against selling or otherwise providing alcohol to minors; amedia campaign to educate parents and other adults on howthey can help reduce underage drinking; and stronger industryself-regulation that reduces youth exposure to pro-alcohol mediaimages and advertising.

“A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S.Colleges,” National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism(NIAAA), 2002To lay the groundwork for a national strategy for reducing high-risk drinking on college campuses, an NIAAA Task Forcereviewed research on prevention strategies. The research pointedto several effective environmental approaches: strongerenforcement of laws regarding alcohol sales and consumption;limits on the geographic concentration of alcohol outlets; higherprices and taxes on alcoholic beverages; and training for bar andrestaurant workers in Responsible Beverage Service.

Community Trials Intervention to Reduce High-Risk DrinkingThe Community Trials Intervention tested a coordinated set ofenvironmental prevention strategies: limits on the number ofalcohol outlets in the community, training for alcohol outlets inResponsible Beverage Service, and stepped up enforcement ofDUI laws and underage-sales laws. Together theseenvironmental approaches led to decreases in youth access toalcohol, alcohol-related injuries and car crashes in which thedriver had been drinking.

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Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol (CMCA)CMCA engages local coalitions of schools, civic and communitygroups, faith organizations, law enforcement, businesses, andother partners in implementing a variety of environmentalprevention strategies: policies to curtail underage drinking atcommunity events, community-awareness efforts, increasedenforcement of underage-sales laws, and restrictions on alcoholadvertising that targets youth. Evaluation of the CMCA modelfound that communities saw reduced underage alcohol sales,reduced drinking among 18- to 20-year-olds and declines in DUIarrests among this same group.

The Power to Bring Communities Together

Environmental prevention depends on abroad base of community partnersworking together to addressproblems related to alcohol sales,promotion and consumption.This is because environmentalstrategies involve changingcommunity practices andnorms, or advocating for newlaws, policies and regulations.In addition to reducing alcoholproblems, environmentalprevention often leads to otherimportant benefits for thecommunity. It can…

l Increase community members’ awareness ofpublic health problems and of opportunities for action

l Instill in communities a sense of empowerment in addressinglocal challenges

l Create new collaborations between community members andlocal government

l Build alliances between community members and keypartners, including law enforcement, health directors, clergy,school officials, judges and prosecutors

These outcomes create stronger, more cohesive communitiesand provide a foundation for future action on issues beyondalcohol or public health.

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Environmental Prevention in Action

Conceptually sound and backed by research, environmentalprevention is a powerful approach to reducing alcohol problems,and one that can be tailored to local conditions. Here's howcommunities are putting environmental prevention into action:

Fighting Irresponsible Advertising and Promotionby the Alcohol Industry

In fall 2003, beverage giant Diageo placed billboards for itsGoldschlager Cinnamon Schnapps in several locations in Syracuse,New York. Touting the tag line “Be Careful,” the ads featured threeyouthful models, each holding a bottle and a shotglass, whilewearing different types of protective gear: safety goggles, helmet orchin guard. Not only did the ads clearly aim to appeal to underageconsumers, they also encouraged excessive drinking while mockingthe dangerous consequences.

Bob Pezzolesi of the Alcohol Advertising Reform Initiative (AARI)in Syracuse was appalled by the Goldschlager ads and immediatelyfiled a complaint with the Distilled Spirits Council of the UnitedStates (DISCUS), a national trade association. AARI claimed that byfeaturing models who appeared to be underage and by promotingbinge drinking, Diageo was violating DISCUS’s code of responsiblealcohol advertising and marketing. DISCUS found in favor ofAARI, and Diageo soonpulled the offensivebillboards.

The alcohol industry is a majorforce in shaping attitudes aboutdrinking. Communities aresaturated with messages thatglamorize or otherwise promotedrinking, and even bingedrinking, whether in print and broadcast ads, or in TV, film andmusic. What’s worse, many of these messages reach, or arespecifically targeted to, young people. However, there are ways tofight back and take on the alcohol industry. Community groups canwork with organizers of local events (fairs, concerts, sporting events)to find alternatives to alcohol sponsorship and promotion. Also,individuals or organizations can be industry watchdogs, mobilizingaction against irresponsible advertising practices.

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Engaging Young People in Reducing UnderageDrinking and in Other Prevention Efforts

Like many low-income areas, San Francisco’s Tenderloinneighborhood is saturated with alcohol advertising, much of ittargeting young people. Youth with a Vengeance, a collaboration ofthe Tenderloin’s Indochinese Housing Development Corporationand the Youth Leadership Institute, works to steer area children andadolescents away from alcohol and tobacco use. Committed toreducing pro-alcohol and pro-tobacco messages in theirneighborhood, members of Youth with a Vengeance spent eightmonths working with a corner store to replace alcohol and tobaccoads on the store walls with pictures showcasing the Tenderloin’srich culture. Once dominated by alcohol and tobacco posters, thestore is now filled with photographs of community members, andwith anti-alcohol and anti-smoking slogans created and illustratedby neighborhood children. For their work onthis transformation project, which theyhope will encourage similar effortsin other neighborhood stores,Youth with a Vengeance receivedofficial recognition from theMayor of San Francisco and hada story published in the SanFrancisco Chronicle.

For too long, underage drinkingprevention programs relied on adults todesign and deliver messages that warn young peopleabout the risks of alcohol use. Today, more and more communitiesare looking to young people to take the lead in addressing theenvironmental factors that contribute to underage drinking. Youth-led environmental prevention benefits from young people’sunderstanding of how they are targeted by alcohol advertising andmarketing, how young people obtain and consume alcohol, and howdrinking is perceived among their peers. With the right training andsupport, young people can lead a wide range of effective preventionactivities, such as media advocacy that changes community normsabout underage drinking, merchant-education programs thatdecrease alcohol sales to minors, and community organizing andpolicy advocacy to combat irresponsible alcohol sales, advertising andpromotion. Involving young people as leaders reinforces the idea thatalcohol prevention is the shared responsibility of the entirecommunity. What’s more, youth-led prevention enables young peopleto build skills and instills in them a sense of their role in creatingsafe and healthy settings for youth.

Building Communities that Help IndividualsSucceed in Alcohol Treatment and Recovery

There is a growing partnership in Louisiana betweenenvironmental prevention advocates and advocates in therecovering community. Sharron Ayers, director of the LouisianaAlliance to Prevent Underage Drinking, and Samantha Hope-Atkins, founder of SoberCity.com and HopeNetworks.org, first metin 2002, when they both had gone to the Louisiana State Capitol tosupport legislation that would have increased the state excise tax onalcoholic beverages for the first time in 50 years. Although thelegislation did not pass, Ayers and Hope-Atkins realized thatadvocates for environmental prevention and for recovery have muchcommon ground. Placing reasonable limits on alcohol availability,such as by restricting the concentration of outlets in a community,can reduce problems such as underage drinking while also creatingan environment that supports successful recovery. The leadershipsof the Louisiana Alliance to Prevent Underage Drinking and ofSoberCity and HopeNetworks are two years into their workingpartnership, which is based on the idea that effective alcohol policyreform can have positive impacts across the continuum ofprevention, treatment and recovery.

The success of alcohol treatment and recovery is greatly enhancedwhen individuals have the support they need to sustain recovery.Friends, family, counselors and support groups are all crucial inaiding successful treatment and recovery. Community environments,however, also play a role in encouraging or thwarting an individual’sability to overcome addiction. Through environmental preventionstrategies—such assupporting social normsthat reinforce the choiceof abstinence, placingreasonable limits onalcohol availability, andkeeping neighborhoodsfrom becoming saturatedwith pro-alcoholmessages—communitiescan decrease the risk ofrelapse and signal theircommitment tosupporting those intreatment and recovery.

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Addressing Binge Drinking on College Campuses

In 1998, students, faculty, staff and administrators at the Universityof Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) established a campus-communitycoalition, called NU Directions, to address the high rate of bingedrinking among students. Part of the nationwide “A Matter ofDegree” initiative, created by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundationto reduce high-risk drinking among college students, NUDirections includes numerous local partners—government officials,police officers, business owners, prevention specialists andparents—and takes a multifaceted approach to reducing alcoholproblems on and around campus. NU Directions has plannedalcohol-free social events and publicized entertainment venues thatagreed to standards of Responsible Beverage Service (RBS), workedwith local police to improve enforcement of underage drinkinglaws, and successfully advocated for state legislation to create atamper-proof drivers’ license. The coalition has helped secure statefunding to create a Web-based training inRBS and has obtained pledges from morethan 50 local alcohol outlets to refrain frompromotions—like “ladies nights” or “50cent shots”—that encourage high-riskdrinking.

By changing the culture of drinking in theUNL community, NU Directions hashelped bring about a dramatic decrease inthe rate of student binge drinking—from 62 percent to 47 percent between 1997 and2003. This period also saw decreases in several alcohol problems,such as injuries, property damage and poor academic performanceresulting from student drinking.

Binge drinking has long been accepted by many as a normal part ofthe college experience. Yet binge drinking is linked with a number ofserious health and safety problems, including assault, alcohol-impaired driving and vandalism. Colleges and universities, often inpartnership with the surrounding communities, can take a variety ofapproaches to addressing the environmental factors that encouragebinge drinking. In the surrounding neighborhoods, college studentsand administrators can advocate for city ordinances limiting thenumber of alcohol outlets near campus, or work with businesses toestablish and enforce standards for responsible alcohol service andmarketing. On campus, students can work to strengthen campusalcohol policies, promote alcohol-free social events, supportconsistent enforcement of alcohol laws, and advocate for the adoptionof policies that regulate alcohol service at campus events.

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Reducing Young People’s Access to Alcoholthrough Parents and Other Adults

Ohio Parents for Drug-Free Youth manages a statewide publicawareness campaign aimed at addressing a common cause ofunderage drinking: parents who provide alcohol to their children’sfriends at house parties. The campaign and its message, “ParentsWho Host, Lose the Most: Don’t be a party to teenage drinking,”educates parents about the legal, health and safety implications ofproviding young people with alcohol and combats the commonimpression that underage drinking is a harmless rite of passage.

“Parents Who Host” combines media outreach, businessinvolvement and grassroots organizing to get its message out tocommunities across Ohio. The campaign has aired radio ads andTV public service announcements and placed campaign billboardsstatewide. The campaign provides businesses with educationalmaterials they can customize and give to employees and customers.Three thousand campaign kits are distributed annually and over aquarter-million dollars in grants have been awarded to local parent-education campaigns. Since the launch of Parents Who Host in2000, there has been an almost 10 percent drop in the number ofyoung people who say they’ve recently attended parties whereparents provided alcohol to minors.

Parents and other adults who provide minors with alcohol oftenthink they are doing them a favor, especially when it occurs withinthe confines of a private home. But in fact, providing young peoplewith alcohol can contribute to a number of problem behaviors, suchas driving under the influence, violence, sexual assault and bingedrinking. Communities are increasingly taking steps to change adultbehavior as a way of combating underage drinking. Theseenvironmental strategies include better enforcement of laws againstproviding alcohol to minors,even in a private home;policies that restrict or forbidalcohol sales at family-oriented community events;community forums todiscuss the problem of youthaccess through adult sources;and media campaigns thatincrease adult awareness ofthe problems associated withunderage drinking.

Giving Community Members a Voice About theBusinesses in Their Neighborhoods

In the late 1990s, residents in Central City East, an area commonlyreferred to as Los Angeles’ Skid Row, grew increasingly concernedabout problems—gambling, public inebriation, assault, alcoholsales to obviously intoxicated persons, drug dealing—in and arounda local alcohol outlet on the ground floor of the Rivers Hotel, asmall single-room occupancy hotel. United Coalition EastPrevention Project, a program of the nonprofit Social ModelRecovery Systems, mobilized a grassroots movement to demandthat the City of Los Angeles take steps to remedy the situation.Advocates held a demonstration, wrote letters to the Los AngelesTimes, made phone calls and testified before the City Council todraw attention to the outlet’s substandard business practices, suchas allowing drinking on the premises and failing to monitornuisance behavior in and around the store.

The City declared the outlet a public nuisance and told the store tomake dozens of improvements to keep its business license. Ratherthan comply, the owner of the hotel and store sold the property. Thebuilding was later purchased by a nonprofit housing developer thatconverted the hotel into more than 100 efficiencyunits for individuals living with HIV/AIDSand turned the alcohol outlet into anattractive convenience store that servesthe community’s needs—without selling liquor.

Land-use processes—such as planning,zoning and business-permitting—can be used toencourage some types of business activity anddiscourage others. Land-use decisions allow communities to shapetheir neighborhood environments to reflect local priorities, desiresand needs. In a growing number of cities, community members useland-use powers as a tool to prevent or reduce alcohol problems.Some localities have established zoning rules that prevent the over-concentration of alcohol outlets or that ban outlets near schools orother sensitive locations. Others have placed conditions on businesspermits granted to alcohol outlets, holding these retailers accountablefor irresponsible sales or promotion practices. Still others forbidcertain kinds of businesses, such as fast-food restaurants or gasstations, from selling alcohol. As a prevention approach, land-usestrategies engage community members in identifying physical andeconomic factors that contribute to alcohol problems, and thentaking steps to address these conditions.

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Moving Forward

Government decision-makers, foundation and communityleaders, and prevention practitioners all can provide leadershipand support to advance the growing environmental preventionmovement.

Support Local Communities in ImplementingEnvironmental Prevention Strategies

At the local level, community members using environmentalprevention can come together to create settings and conditionsthat decrease the likelihood of alcohol problems and encourageresponsible choices about alcohol. This might be throughenforcement of existing laws or adopting new local laws andordinances that target alcohol problems, conducting communityeducation to inform residents about the role of the environmentin shaping alcohol-related problems, changing attitudes towardbinge drinking, organizing to combat irresponsible alcohol salesand promotion practices, or holding alcohol-free communityevents. To support locally targeted environmental preventionstrategies, leaders can:

l Provide funding and technical assistance for grassrootscoalitions that are taking environmental approaches to solvecommunity alcohol problems

l Offer leadership-development opportunities for environmentalpreventionadvocates, includingtraining, mentoring,convening andnetworkingactivities

l Support collectionand analysis of localdata on alcoholproblems so thatcommunities have asound basis fordesigningenvironmentalpreventionstrategies

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l Convene the prevention, treatment and recovery communities toexplore and plan linkages between these approaches

Help Create New Knowledge About What Works

Environmental prevention is a proven way to address communityalcohol problems. But there is still much to be learned about theenvironmental approach, such as which strategies work best indifferent situations and for different populations. As a preventionleader you can:

l Increase funding for research on the long-term effects ofenvironmental prevention strategies to guide policy-makers andpractitioners

l Provide funding or technical assistance to replicate and furtherstudy environmental prevention approaches that have shownpromise and deserve in-depth evaluation

Spread the Word

Raising awareness ofenvironmental preventionand its benefits forcommunities will promotewider, more effective use ofthis approach. Leaders can:

l Share this publication withanyone who wants to knowmore about preventing

community alcohol problems

l Help disseminate the latest research on environmental preventionthrough your organization's newsletter, Web site or other vehicles

l Convene prevention practitioners (including community-leveladvocates), researchers, elected officials, government-agency staffand foundation leadership to discuss effective environmentalprevention strategies and ways to speed their replication

l Support training for prevention practitioners, in both the publicand private sectors, and the use of research-based best practices inenvironmental prevention

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Resources

Nonprofit and Academic Organizations

Alcohol Advertising Reform [email protected] grassroots organization in Syracuse, New York, mobilizescommunity members to combat irresponsible advertisingpractices by the alcohol industry.

Alcohol Epidemiology Program (AEP), School of Public Health,University of Minnesota www.epi.umn.edu/alcoholAEP conducts and disseminates research on effectivecommunity and policy-level strategies for reducing alcoholproblems. The program’s Web site includes information on theCommunities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol (CMCA) modelprogram, highlights of alcohol policies nationwide and otherresearch and resources.

American Medical Association, Office of Alcohol and OtherDrug Abusewww.AlcoholPolicyMD.comThe Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse focuses onreducing underage alcohol abuse. This office administersinitiatives to support community coalitions, reduce high-riskdrinking on college campuses and engage health professionalsin reducing and preventing alcohol problems.

Berkeley Media Studies Group (BMSG)www.bmsg.orgThe Berkeley Media Studies Group works with communitygroups, journalists and public health professionals to use thepower of the media to advance healthy public policy. The BMSGWeb site features case studies, newsletters and otherpublications on media advocacy and public health.

Center for Science in the Public Interest, Alcohol Policies Projectwww.cspinet.org/boozeThe Alcohol Policies Project helps to focus public and policy-maker attention on policy reforms to reduce the health andsocial consequences of drinking. The project has worked withthousands of organizations and individuals to promote acomprehensive, prevention-oriented policy strategy to change therole of alcohol in society.

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Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY)www.camy.orgBased at Georgetown University, CAMY monitors alcoholindustry marketing to focus attention and mobilize action onpractices that jeopardize the health and safety of Americanyouth.

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA)www.cadca.orgCADCA provides new and existing coalitions with training,technical assistance, and guidance on public-policy and mediastrategies, and other types of support.

FACE: Resources, Training and Action on Alcohol Issueswww.faceproject.orgFACE is a national nonprofit organization that supports sensiblealcohol practices through the development of messages,strategies and training designed to create public awareness andaction on alcohol issues.

Join Togetherwww.jointogether.orgA project of the Boston University School of Public Health, JoinTogether provides news, action alerts and other information thatsupports community-based efforts to reduce, prevent and treatsubstance abuse.

New Futureswww.new-futures.orgNew Futures is an independent nonprofit organization workingto reduce alcohol, tobacco and other drug problems in NewHampshire. In addition to resources specific to prevention andtreatment in that state, the organization’s Web site featuresinformation on funding opportunities and a variety ofprevention-related links.

Oregon Partnershipwww.orpartnership.orgThe Oregon Partnership supports communities throughout thestate in preventing and treating drug and alcohol problems. ThePartnership’s Web site includes a variety of links, publicationsand tools related to community-based prevention.

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Prevention by Designhttp://socrates.berkeley.edu/~pbdA project of the Institute for the Study of Social Change at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, Prevention by Design providesCalifornia counties, as well as local communities andcommunity organizations, with training, technical assistanceand ongoing support on research-based prevention. Preventionby Design’s Web site includes information on its training andother services, plus a series of articles on prevention and manyrelevant links.

Prevention Research Center (of the Pacific Institute for Researchand Evaluation)www.prev.orgPrevention Research Center (PRC) focuses on conductingresearch to better understand the social and physicalenvironments that influence individual behavior leading toalcohol and drug misuse. PRC operates Resource Link: Researchin Action (resources.prev.org), a Web site providing informationand practical guidance for state and local organizations, policy-makers and members of the general public.

Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center (of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation)www.udetc.orgEstablished by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office ofJuvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, this Centerprovides training and technical assistance to states andcommunities working to combat underage drinking through lawenforcement and environmental policy change.

Youth Leadership Institute (YLI)www.yli.orgThis national nonprofit provides programs, training andconsultation that help communities engage young people asleaders and advocates. YLI’s Web site includes information onthe organization’s training and consultation services and featuresdownloadable tools and resources on youth-led environmentalprevention.

Government Agencies

Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP)www.prevention.samhsa.gov

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CSAP is a program of the federal Substance Abuse and MentalHealth Services Administration, providing national leadership inthe prevention of illegal substance use and underage alcohol andtobacco use. CSAP promotes prevention approaches based oncommunity involvement and broad partnerships.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)www.niaaa.nih.govPart of the National Institutes of Health, NIAAA conducts,supports and disseminates scientific research on the healtheffects of alcohol consumption as well as on alcohol preventionand treatment. Among NIAAA’s resources is the Alcohol PolicyInformation System (alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov), acomprehensive database of state and federal alcohol policies.

U.S. Department of Education’s Higher Education Center forAlcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Preventionwww.edc.org/hecWith a focus on environmental strategies, the Center helpscollege and community leaders take steps to reduce studentproblems related to alcohol and other drug use andinterpersonal violence. Services include technical assistance,training, publications and evaluation.

Publications

“10 Drug and Alcohol Policies That Save Lives,” Join Together,2004. Available at www.jointogether.org/sa/action/tenpolicies

“A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S.Colleges,” Final Report of the Task Force on College Drinking,2002, and “How to Reduce High-Risk College Drinking: UseProven Strategies, Fill Research Gaps,” Final Report of the TaskForce on College Drinking’s Panel on Prevention and Treatment,2002. Both publications from the National Institute on AlcoholAbuse and Alcoholism. Available atwww.collegedrinkingprevention.gov

“Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol: SAMHSAModel Program,” Substance Abuse and Mental Health ServicesAdministration, 2001. Available athttp://modelprograms.samhsa.gov, or by calling SAMHSA at 877-773-8546

“The Environmental Approach to Community AOD Prevention:An Action Manual,” Friedner D. Wittman, 1997. Published bythe State of California, Department of Alcohol and DrugPrograms. Call 916-327-3728 or 800-879-2772 to obtain a copy.

“How To Use Local Regulatory and Land Use Powers To PreventUnderage Drinking,” James F. Mosher and Bob Reynolds, 1999.Prepared by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation(PIRE) in support of the federal Office of Juvenile Justice andDelinquency Prevention’s Enforcing Underage Drinking LawsProgram. Available at www.udetc.org/documents/regulatory.pdf, orcall PIRE at 301-755-2700

“Overcoming the Barriers: Implementing EnvironmentalApproaches to Prevent Alcohol, Tobacco, and Illegal DrugProblems,” James F. Mosher, David H. Jernigan and Robert W.Denniston, 1998. Prepared through the National Center for theAdvancement of Prevention. Available from the Marin Instituteat 415-456-5692

“Preventing Problems Related to Alcohol Availability:Environmental Approaches” (Three-Part Series: Practitioners’Guide, Parent and Community Guide, and Reference Guide).Published by the federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention(CSAP). Available at http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/govpubs/PHD822, orcall the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and DrugInformation toll-free at 800-729-6686

“Preventing Underage Alcohol Access: Essential Elements forPolicy, Deterrence and Public Support,” Prevention ResearchCenter, 2004. Available athttp://resources.prev.org/resource_pub_pud.pdf

“Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility,”National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, 2003.Available at http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10729.html. To order callthe National Academies Press toll-free at 888-624-8373

“Strategies for Reducing Third-Party Transactions of Alcohol toUnderage Youth,” Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation,2000. Available atwww.udetc.org/documents/Reducing%203rd%20Party.pdf, or bycalling PIRE toll-free at 877-335-1287

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The Marin Institute is an alcohol industrywatchdog and a resource for solutions to

community alcohol problems.

We can help you:

l Develop effective environmental prevention strategies

l Get technical assistance on alcohol policyand media advocacy

l Track alcohol industry advertising andpromotion practices

l Take action on hot alcohol policy issues andcounter-marketing campaigns

l Access fact sheets, community success storiesand other tools for success

l Stay current with our free Alcohol News emailsand quarterly newsletter

Find it all atwww.MarinInstitute.org

or 415-456-5692

A guide to action for

people who want to build communities

free from alcohol-related problems.

Learn how tol Use environmental preventionl Support community action

Includesl Success storiesl Engaging illustrationsl Resources and action steps

Created by

Co-Sponsors

Documents

- Grassroots Change · concert without being bombarded by alcohol advertising. l Communities don't have to live with the crime and blight created by problem bars and liquor stores