One Voice: Preventing Underage Drinking in Hunterdon County - One Voice of Hunterdon (OVH) will implement a comprehensive, community-based underage drinking prevention initiative designed to reduce alcohol use among youth, decrease youth access to alcohol, and strengthen community norms that discourage underage drinking throughout Central Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Utilizing the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) and evidence-based environmental prevention strategies, the project will engage youth, parents, schools, law enforcement, healthcare providers, businesses, faith organizations, and other community stakeholders in coordinated prevention efforts. Through education, policy and practice change, youth engagement, media campaigns, and community collaboration, the project will address local conditions contributing to underage drinking while strengthening protective factors that support healthy youth development. The project will serve all municipalities within Hunterdon County, New Jersey, a predominantly rural county with approximately 126,000 residents. According to the 2025 County Health Rankings, 58.3% of the county is classified as low-density rural. Hunterdon County continues to experience alcohol-related concerns, including excessive drinking and alcohol-impaired driving rates that exceed state benchmarks, highlighting the need for continued prevention efforts. The primary population of focus is youth ages 12-20 residing in Hunterdon County. Secondary populations include parents and caregivers, educators, healthcare professionals, law enforcement personnel, businesses, faith-based organizations, and community members who influence youth attitudes, behaviors, and access to alcohol. The project will directly serve youth ages 12–20 through school and community-based prevention activities while engaging parents, caregivers, schools, community organizations, healthcare providers, law enforcement agencies, and local businesses in countywide prevention initiatives. OVH will implement evidence-based prevention strategies that include Community-wide alcohol prevention education and awareness campaigns. Parent and caregiver education focused on communication, monitoring, and preventing youth access to alcohol. Youth leadership development and peer-to-peer prevention activities. Responsible alcohol retail and merchant education initiatives. Community norms and media campaigns are designed to reduce acceptance of underage drinking. Environmental prevention strategies that reduce youth access to alcohol. Collaboration with schools, law enforcement, healthcare providers, and community partners to support policy and practice changes. Ongoing data collection, evaluation, and community assessment activities to guide implementation and measure outcomes. Project Goals: Goal 1: Reduce underage alcohol use among Hunterdon County youth. Goal 2: Reduce youth access to alcohol through community-level and environmental prevention strategies. Goal 3: Increase protective factors and strengthen community norms that discourage underage drinking. Summarized Objectives: By September 29, 2030, the project will: Reduce the percentage of youth reporting past 30-day alcohol use as measured by the Hunterdon County Student Survey. Increase the percentage of youth who perceive regular alcohol use as harmful. Increase the percentage of parents and caregivers who report discussing the risks of alcohol use with their children. Reducing the percentage of youth who report alcohol is easy or easy to obtain. Engage representatives from at least 12 community sectors annually in implementing and supporting underage drinking prevention strategies. Through collaborative, data-driven prevention efforts, One Voice of Hunterdon will work to create lasting community-level change that reduces underage drinking and promotes healthier outcomes for Hunterdon County youth and families.
