Underage drinking can cause a multitude of problems within the community, making it crucial for community- and faith-based organizations to take action to prevent children from starting to drink alcohol. Below are Federal resources for community and faith-based organizations to use in helping to combat this issue at the local level.
Alcohol Policy Information System
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
The Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS) is an online resource that provides detailed information on a wide variety of alcohol-related policies in the United States at both State and Federal levels. It features compilations and analyses of alcohol-related statutes and regulations. Designed primarily as a tool for researchers, APIS simplifies the process of ascertaining the state of the law for studies on the effects and effectiveness of alcohol-related policies. |
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Building Community Capacity to Prevent Underage Drinking
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CDC published this project model based on training and technical assistance to build the capacity of and empower the rural, community-based organizations of Iowa to prevent adolescent drinking. The project uses qualitative and quantitative measures to determine if increasing adult accountability through countywide keg registration impacts adolescent drinking. |
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Community How To Guides On Underage Drinking
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
These Community How To Guides address fundamental components of planning and implementing a comprehensive underage drinking prevention program. The guides are designed to be brief, easy to read, and easy to use. Each guide contains a resource section to assist readers in obtaining additional and detailed information about the topics covered in that guide. The appendices include useful tools for each topic area that provide coalitions and organizations with a jump-start in their planning and implementation activities. |
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Focus On Prevention 
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
This guide was developed to help a wide range of groups and communities move from concerns about substance abuse to proven and practical solutions. It is a starting point that offers brief, practical, and easy-to-read information that is useful in planning and delivering prevention strategies. |
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Reach Out Now National Teach-In
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
To further alert children, parents, and teachers about the dangers of underage alcohol use, and to reinforce the messages in these school-based materials, SAMHSA encourages prominent national, State, and local leaders to conduct Teach-Ins for fifth- and/or sixth-grade classrooms nationwide during April each year. The already-prepared Teach-In curriculum focuses on the lessons in the Reach Out Now materials. |
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SAMHSA National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs & Practices
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
NREPP is a searchable database of interventions for the prevention and treatment of mental and substance use disorders. SAMHSA has developed this resource to help individuals, agencies, and organizations implement programs and practices in their communities. |
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SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies (OAS) Web site on Underage Drinking
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
SAMHSA's OAS collects and reports on national and State data to assist policymakers, treatment providers and patients make informed decisions regarding the prevention and treatment of mental and substance use disorders. This specific site on underage drinking includes reports on underage drinking, detailed tables on underage and legal age drinking, SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health, current rates of underage drinking by race/ethnicity, region, and size of metropolitan area, and underage drinking trends by State and region. |
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The Party’s Over: Radio PSA
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
These radio PSAs include two announcements directed toward parents and three toward adolescents. The adolescent PSAs are available in a variety of music versions, and you can now listen to them online. |
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The Risks and Challenge of Underage Drinking—Speech by Acting Surgeon General in Nebraska
Office of the Surgeon General
In this speech, the Acting Surgeon General, RADM Steven K. Galson, thanks the people in Nebraska for their commitment to improving the health of Americans. He describes his priorities and then discusses underage drinking, particularly the scope of the problem nationally and locally and its secondhand effects. He encourages the community to collaborate and continue their efforts to decrease underage drinking. |
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Too Smart To Start
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Too Smart To Start is a public education intitiative that consists of evidence-based materials to help professionals and volunteers conduct underage alcohol use prevention programs in their communities. The materials are designed to educate 9- to 13-year-olds about the harms of alcohol use and to support parents and caregivers as they participate in their children's activities. |
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Too Smart To Start Implementation Guide
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
The materials contained in this guide are designed to help you plan, develop, promote, and implement a local initiative to educate 9- to 13-year-olds and their parents about the harms of underage alcohol use and to support parents and caregivers as they participate in their children’s activities. |
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Underage Alcohol Use: Findings from the 2002–2006 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health 
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
This report presents findings from the 2002 to 2006 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUHs) on the use of alcohol by persons aged 12 to 20. NSDUH is an annual survey of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States aged 12 or older and is conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). This report examines trends in alcohol use from 2002 to 2006 among underage persons and variations in underage drinking and alcohol use disorders across demographic groups and geographic areas. |
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Underage Drinking in Wyoming and Elsewhere—Speech by Acting Surgeon General in Wyoming
Office of the Surgeon General
In this speech, the Acting Surgeon General, RADM Steven K. Galson, thanks the people in Wyoming for their commitment to improving the health of Americans. He describes his priorities and then discusses underage drinking, particularly the scope of the problem nationally and locally and its secondhand effects. He encourages the community to collaborate and continue their efforts to decrease underage drinking. |
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