"Hope Dealer" Keynotes American Canyon, CA Youth-Led Town Hall

INTRODUCTION

American Canyon High School is newly opened in Napa County, California. Data from the California Healthy Kids Survey point to significant levels of underage alcohol use, student binge drinking, and associated problems in the county. Complicating parental and community efforts to protect American Canyon youth from alcohol and other substance abuse problems is the history of gun-related violence, drinking, and drug use in neighboring Vallejo, a more inner-city environment with severe economic problems. In addition, an estimated 70 percent of employed American Canyon residents commute to either the Sacramento or the San Francisco area, leaving many children unsupervised until their parents’ arrival home. At present, Friday Night Live Partnership (FNL) is the lead substance abuse prevention group in American Canyon and has identified a need to modify its strategy for engaging with parents about underage alcohol use and other youth substance abuse.

EVENT DESCRIPTION

American Canyon High School’s FNL student group is a recent addition to the California FNL, developed in collaboration with Napa County’s Catalyst Coalition. Its chapter members perceived a lack of community understanding by both youth and adults about underage drinking, substance abuse in general, and their consequences, including legal consequences. Students involved with American Canyon High School’s FNL chapter identified the need for a community dialogue; planned the May 1, 2014, Town Hall Meeting program; and assembled a five-member expert panel. This panel was led by nationally recognized motivational speaker, Jeremy Bates, known as “the hope dealer,” who also addressed a student assembly earlier in the day. A member of California’s Highway Patrol detailed the impact of alcohol-impaired driving nationally and locally. A representative of a local Planned Parenthood chapter drew audience interest and feedback with her comments about risky sexual behavior involving teen drug and alcohol use. Parents took note of information about their liability for underage drinking infractions under social host laws, which was discussed by an investigator from the Napa District Attorney’s Office. More than 70 participants, including city council members, personnel from the sheriff’s office, education professionals, the media, and youth themselves, engaged with the panelists. FNL members from other communities in the county also attended. 

MEASURES OF SUCCESS

High interest among young people at the gathering caused the program to run overtime, indicating that it was fulfilling an information gap. Furthermore, feedback from a brief postevent survey showed that nearly all Town Hall Meeting participants who responded found the event to be a “very good introduction to the topic of youth substance use and the law,” one of the program’s primary purposes (strongly agree: 71 percent; agree: 29 percent). Potential community partners for prevention were attracted and impressed with the good turnout and lively discussion.
Student leadership in organizing, publicizing, and conducting this first-ever community briefing event about underage drinking and related problems was deemed a major factor in the evening’s success. The youth empowerment achieved by supporting the FNL chapter’s interests and planning ensures ongoing student participation in underage drinking prevention activities and communications.
Newspaper coverage of the event helped to extend prevention messages throughout the community. An article in the American Canyon Eagle, titled “Sex, drugs, alcohol the focus of town hall meeting,” included several underage drinking statistics given during the Town Hall Meeting. 

NEXT STEPS

The likelihood of a comparable 2015 follow-up event is estimated at “100 percent” by the group’s adult advisors, based on audience response to the 2014 Town Hall Meeting. The American Canyon High School FNL intends to make an underage drinking prevention Town Hall Meeting, or a comparable community event, an annual feature of the area’s Alcohol Awareness Month calendar. FNL is seeking opportunities to host an information table and make a brief presentation on substance abuse prevention during a forthcoming class orientation and parent–teacher meetings at area schools. The purpose of these activities would be to promote the exchange of factual information about underage drinking among parents, students, and school personnel. Adult advisors to this FNL chapter are also seeking student advice about other ways to reach local teens with prevention messages, such as by promoting messages at water parks and other popular youth attractions.

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