Changing the Landscape of Underage Drinking Prevention Town Hall Meetings

SAMHSA has coordinated three nationwide rounds of Town Hall Meetings (THMs) on underage drinking (UAD) prevention, in 2006, 2008, and 2010. With the goal of supporting this initiative every 2 years, SAMHSA expects to embark on the fourth round of THMs in Spring 2012. Evaluation results taken from the three rounds of THMs indicate the effectiveness in raising community awareness, attracting widespread media coverage, and mobilizing communities to implement environmental approaches to UAD prevention. Evaluation results from 2010 conclude that there has been a 45.3% increase in participating community-based organizations (CBOs) and 33.8% increase in total number of THMs events compared to baseline data in 2006.

In order to assess current needs and community capacity for UAD prevention, SAMHSA will present data collected from 2010 and will discuss outcomes from a series of stakeholder meetings conducted in 2011 to obtain additional qualitative data and feedback from participating CBOs. New findings from all data related to the 2010 THMs, innovations in approaches resulting from lessons learned, and plans for SAMHSA's use of social media channels to expand audience reach for 2012 THMs will be presented. Participants will be provided with insights into THMs that have demonstrated outstanding successes in terms of participation and outcomes. They will also be among the first to review new and proposed products and tools that will support CBOs conducting 2012 THMs including new and updated Web-based and multimedia resources. Several new THM resources and products will facilitate the implementation of evidence-based environmental approaches for UAD prevention.