 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Dori N. Baeza, BS, Carl Irby, BS, and Marie Soria. Department of Public Health, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Program, San Bernardino County, 351 N. Mt View Ave, San Bernardino, CA 92415, 909-387-6280, dbaeza@dph.sbcounty.gov
This project, implemented in San Bernardino County California, facilitated the adoption of policies by local event organizers to reduce alcohol sponsorship and advertising at their community events, in order to reduce children’s exposure to alcohol messages. Alcohol sponsorship at community events targets youth, normalizes alcohol use, and associates alcohol with local celebrations, thereby putting youth at risk for alcohol use.
In 2001, trained project youth conducted community needs assessments at Cinco de Mayo celebrations to document the extent of alcohol sponsorship and advertising. The following year, the community event organizers were educated and given the assessment results from the previous year. As a direct result of local assessment and awareness raising, two major Cinco de Mayo events relinquished their alcohol sponsorship and eliminated alcohol advertising. These events were held alcohol-free for the first time. Youth were then mobilized to advocate for the permanent elimination of alcohol sponsorship and advertising at these events.
This presentation will describe the rationale, methodologies (including assessment, mobilization, training, youth development, and community outreach), and up-to-date results of the project.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Alcohol Problems, Policy/Policy Development
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.