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Getting Started

Nearly 9 million American youth drink alcohol, illegally and dangerously.

Underage drinking costs communities billions annually

Join in 2019 to:

  • educate your community about underage drinking
  • and learn how to mobilize to take action

Town Hall Meetings in Action

Below are brief success stories from previous rounds of Activities. Read the latest success stories and be inspired!

The Coffee County Anti-Drug  Coalition in Manchester, Tennessee The Coffee County Anti-Drug Coalition in Manchester, Tennessee, hosted parents, law enforcement, and public officials to help gain their support of Tennessee’s social host liability law, and to encourage law enforcement agencies and the courts to effectively enforce the law. Engaging key public officials, including three mayors, two police chiefs, one sheriff, and one district attorney, signaled the community’s intention to put its combined influence behind Tennessee’s social host law.


 A collaboration  among the Florida-based LiveFree! A collaboration among the Florida-based LiveFree! Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Pinellas County (LiveFree!), the Coalition for a Drug-Free Southwest Florida, and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television stations WEDU-Tampa Bay and WGCU in Fort Myers provides an annual opportunity to engage a potential audience estimated at 250,000 in a 16-county area. Since 2005, WEDU has worked with LiveFree! and other groups to produce Florida Kids and Alcohol, a series of live, local Town Hall Meetings in April about underage drinking issues in Florida. WEDU has broadcast events from its Tampa Bay studio and from different high schools in Pinellas County. These televised events have built public support for environmental prevention and law enforcement efforts to stop underage drinking.


Todo tiene su comienzo “Todo tiene su comienzo” (“Everything has a beginning”) was selected as the theme for a series of Town Hall Meetings aimed at addressing underage drinking problems among Georgia’s growing Latino population. Held in Spanish, the events were organized by the Clinic for Education, Treatment and Prevention of Addition, Inc., (CETPA) and featured State Representative Pedro Marin. Since 2003, CETPA has been holding Town Hall Meetings that focus on using a culturally sensitive approach to educating Latino parents about the laws, risks, and consequences of underage drinking. CEPA now includes five regions in Georgia, creating for the first time a statewide effort to combat alcohol use among Latino teens.


 Anadarko Indian  Education (AIE) in Anadarko, Oklahoma Anadarko Indian Education (AIE) in Anadarko, Oklahoma, held a Town Hall Communities Talk: Town Hall Meetings to Prevent Underage Drinking event at the landmark 275-seat Redskin Theater in downtown Anadarko to rekindle established local partnerships and cultivate several new ones. With the help of 10 co-sponsors, more than 260 young people and adults attended a popular movie showing for youth combined with an educational presentation on underage drinking prevention for parents. Following the meeting, AIE began holding monthly and quarterly events to improve tribal relationships and collaboration with community partners.


West Virginia University  and the City of Morgantown co-hosted West Virginia University and the City of Morgantown co-hosted a Communities Talk: Town Hall Meetings to Prevent Underage Drinking event as a solution-based dialogue forum on underage and high-risk drinking. More than 100 students, university and community members, and local government officials attended the event. Seven experts offered their professional perspective on the consequences of underage and excessive drinking and potential solutions for the community to consider. WVU posted the Communities Talk: Town Hall Meetings to Prevent Underage Drinking event online and also provided the hashtag #WVUTownHallMeeting as a way for community members to continue the dialogue.


The state of  Massachusetts has gotten behind Town Hall Meetings The state of Massachusetts has gotten behind Town Hall Meetings in a big way. In the 1990s, Massachusetts reported some of the highest rates of underage drinking and youngest ages of first alcohol use in the nation. But thanks to prevention efforts led by the state’s Bureau of Substance Abuse Services and supported by its Interagency Council on Substance Abuse and Prevention, Massachusetts is reporting significant success: More of the state’s youth are waiting to take their first drink. State leaders credit Town Hall Meetings with contributing to declining youth access to alcohol and growing public support for environmental prevention measures.