Materials

Community Briefing Prevention Toolkit: Town Hall Meetings (PDF - 10 MB)
Your virtual Town Hall Meeting toolkit, with step-by-step instructions, includes a facilitator’s guide, checklists, and other key information for successfully coordinating and promoting your event.

Also available in Spanish. (PDF - 15 MB)

Town Hall Meeting Presentation (PDF - 284 KB) (PPT - 785 KB)
This fact-filled and persuasive presentation about planning a THM can be used to garner support in your local community for planning and conducting an event. The above toolkit includes talking points (PDF 362 KB) for use with this presentation.

Also available in Spanish (PDF - 245 KB) (PPT - 839 KB). Puntos de conversación para la presentación en PowerPoint (PDF – 409 KB)

How To

First Steps: Examples to help you decide on your meeting scale. (HTML) (PDF - 111 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (PDF - 210 KB)

Getting Started: Suggestions for organizing your planning committee. (HTML) (PDF - 126 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (PDF - 206 KB)

Planning the Town Hall Meeting: Checklists for ensuring a successful event before, the day of, and after your meeting. (HTML) (PDF - 135 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (PDF - 322 KB)

The Day of the Town Hall Meeting: Suggestions for what you should do on the day of your event. (HTML) (PDF - 82 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (PDF - 158 KB)

After the Town Hall Meeting: Suggestions for follow-up activities after your event is held. (HTML) (PDF - 111 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (PDF - 254 KB)

Using the Media Samples: Tips for Using a Media Advisory, a Pitch Letter, a News Release, and a PSA. (HTML) (PDF - 129 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (PDF - 272 KB)

Key Facts: Talking points to use in raising awareness about underage drinking and its consequences. (HTML) (PDF - 299 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (PDF - 150 KB)

Facilitator’s Guide: Tips for the selecting a Facilitator and their role in your Town Hall Meeting. (HTML) (PDF - 208 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (PDF - 177 KB)

Customizable

Also, you’ll find customizable documents you can easily download and adapt for local use:

Sample Slide Show: PowerPoint template that contains underage drinking facts and questions and answers that can serve as a conversation starter at your event. (PPT - 2 MB) (PDF - 783 KB)

Sample Panelist Invitation Letter: Template for inviting people to serve on a discussion panel. (HTML) (PDF - 117 KB) (MS Word - 355 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (HTML) (MS Word - 94 KB)

Sample Media Advisory: Template for alerting the media to your upcoming meeting. (HTML) (PDF - 118 KB) (MS Word - 356 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (HTML) (MS Word - 196 KB)

Sample Pitch Letter: Template for encouraging media coverage of your meeting. (HTML) (PDF - 90 KB) (MS Word - 355 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (HTML) (MS Word - 195 KB)

Sample News Release: Template for providing the media with complete information for their coverage of your meeting. (HTML) (PDF - 144 KB) (MS Word - 357 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (HTML) (MS Word - 196 KB)

Sample Poster/Flyer: Template for advertising your upcoming meeting. (HTML) (PDF 122 KB) (MS Word - 354 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (HTML) (MS Word - 196 KB)

Sample Stationary: Template for engaging your planning committee and organizing your event. (MS Word - 352 KB)

Also available in Spanish. (MS Word - 190 KB)

Handouts

Printed copies of these and other related materials can be ordered from SAMHSA’s Health Information Network by calling 1–877–SAMHSA–7 (1–877–726–4727) or online at http://www.samhsa.gov/shin.

Underage Drinking: Myths vs. Facts (2 pages) (PDF - 4.12 MB)

This brochure dispels common myths about underage alcohol use and helps 9- to 15-year-olds understand the dangers associated with using alcohol.

Reach Out Now Family Pages (4 pages) (PDF - 5 MB)

Reach Out Now provides school-based underage alcohol use prevention materials for fifth- and sixth-grade students, their families, and their teachers. The Reach Out Now Family Pages provide tips and help guide parents through starting a discussion about alcohol use.

Background

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking (PDF - 1 MB)

This seminal document discusses underage alcohol use within a developmental framework and identifies a series of goals and action steps that could be taken to address this important issue.

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking:
What It Means to You—A Guide to Action for Communities (PDF – 974KB)

Llamado a la acción del Cirujano General para prevenir y reducir el consumo de alcohol por menores de edad: Lo que significa para usted—Guía de acción para las comunidades (PDF - 854 KB)

This seminal document discusses underage alcohol use within a developmental framework and identifies a series of goals and action steps that could be taken to address the issue.

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking:
What It Means to You—A Guide to Action for Families (PDF – 900KB)

Llamado a la acción del Cirujano General para prevenir y reducir el consumo de alcohol por menores de edad: Lo que significa para usted—Guía de acción para las familias (PDF - 812 KB)

This guide, based on The Surgeon General’s Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking, gives families the knowledge and tools to take action against underage drinking. It explains why underage alcohol use is a problem and suggests ways that families can end underage alcohol use in the home, in the community, and across the country.

Focus on Prevention (Practical tips on engaging communities in underage drinking prevention) (PDF - 2 MB)

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.

Federal Web Sites/Resources

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Contact SAMHSA’s Health Information Network (SHIN) to order SAMHSA publications by email at SHIN@samhsa.hhs.gov or by calling 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727)
The Too Smart To Start Web site helps youth, families, educators, and communities prevent underage alcohol use and its related problems. It provides useful programs and strategies, downloadable materials, interactive games and exercises, and other resources to support you in responding to The Surgeon General's Call to Action To Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking.
Stop Alcohol Abuse.gov is a comprehensive portal of Federal resources for information on underage drinking and ideas for combating this issue. Community members interested in underage drinking prevention—including but not limited to parents, educators, youth, concerned citizens, prevention specialists, business leaders, law enforcement and public health officials—will find a wealth of valuable information on this portal.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Alcohol Policy Information System, Highlight on Underage Drinking has authoritative, detailed, and comparable information on alcohol-related policies at both the State and Federal levels. Visit the Highlight on Underage Drinking section for State profiles, maps, and charts and key underage policy topics.
The Cool Spot: The Young Teen’s Place for Info on Alcohol and Resisting Peer Pressure, is intended for youth aged 11 to 13 and is based on a curriculum for grades 6-8 developed by the University of Michigan. The curriculum was created for the Alcohol Misuse Prevention Study (AMPS), a large-scale project supported by NIAAA.
College Drinking: Changing the Culture, is a one-stop resource for comprehensive research-based information on issues related to alcohol abuse and binge drinking among college students.

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