Expanding Underage Drinking Prevention in Gwinnett County - The Prevention Action Collaborative of Gwinnett (PAC-G) is a multi-sector Drug Free Communities coalition serving Gwinnett County, GA. The DFC grantee is Gwinnett United In Drug Education, Inc., a prevention agency that established PAC-G in 2011. The STOP Act grant will allow PAC-G to expand its underage drinking prevention strategies by reducing commercial and social access to alcohol throughout the county and providing protective factors to several high-risk and underserved groups.
The primary populations of focus are youth ages 12-18. 80% of these youth are minorities and 36% are economically disadvantaged. Hispanic youth make up the largest ethnic minority at 33%, followed by African Americans at 32% and Asians at 12%. Two strategies will target youth who have additional risk factors such as having addiction in their families or living in a community with higher rates of underage drinking and alcohol/drug related crimes, experiencing low academic achievement and being chronically underserved. Goals and objectives include:
Goal 1: Increase capacity of the coalition and strengthen collaboration.
Objective 1.1: By July 2024, two Youth Action Teams and the Youth Advisory Board will complete Georgia Teen Institute training and develop action plans with two community change strategies to reduce and prevent underage drinking.
Objective 1.2: By September 2024, two YATs and the YAB will be implementing their action plan strategies to prevent underage drinking.
Objective 1.3: By August 2024, 3 YAB will have participated in planning/implementation of a Town Hall Meeting to address underage drinking.
Objective 1.4: By August 2024, PAC-G will conduct the Town Hall Meeting, receive community input about underage drinking and prevention strategies and recruit 3 new volunteers from underserved populations.
Goal 2: Reduce underage drinking in Gwinnett.
Objective 2.1: By September 2024, 1 new police department will complete alcohol sales compliance checks at 20 outlets to establish a baseline of compliance for future comparison.
Objective 2.2: By September 2024, ID guides, multi-lingual information cards to train retail clerks on checking IDs and multi-lingual signage reminding patrons it is illegal to provide alcohol to anyone under 21 with the penalties for doing so will be purchased and produced with at least 400 of each distributed to alcohol vendors throughout Gwinnett County.
Objective 2.3: By September 2024, at least 35% of the alcohol outlets that received information cards and signage will have them posted three months after receiving them.
Objective 2.4: By December 2023, alcohol vendors in compliance with underage alcohol sales laws during 2023 will receive a window cling thanking them for being in compliance.
Objective 2.5: By May 2024, PAC-G will conduct two parent sessions at Stripling Elementary School about the risks and consequences of underage drinking resulting in 150 parent pledges to provide clear no-alcohol-use messages to their children.
Increasing the coalition's and community's capacity to plan evidence-based strategies to reduce underage drinking will benefit the entire county. Commercial access and social access reduction strategies will benefit over 50,000 youth throughout Gwinnett. During the course of the STOP Act grant, it is estimated that 500 at-risk and underserved families will participate in the parent/child program at Stripling Elementary School and at least 50 high-risk youth will participate in Youth Action Teams for at least one year each.
