It is illegal, unsafe, and unhealthy for anyone under age 21 to drink alcohol. Allowing underage youth to drink alcohol in your home endangers everyone’s children. Together, as a community, we are all saying hosting or allowing underage drinking is unacceptable in (community). We’ll be cooperating with police efforts to identify and prosecute those who sell and serve alcohol to youth.

The Parents Who Host, Lose The Most: Don’t be a party to teenage drinking public awareness campaign was developed by Ohio’s Drug-Free Action Alliance in 2000. This initiative was created in response to a 1998 assessment that identified teen house parties as a challenge to enforcement of local laws. Some parents host teen alcohol parties either to be “cool” with their children or in an attempt to keep their kids from drinking and driving. The campaign objectives are to educate parents about the health and safety risks of serving alcohol at teen house parties and to increase awareness of and compliance with local underage drinking laws.

Wisconsin implemented a similar statewide campaign in April 2009, Alcohol Awareness Month. Rock County participated in a media campaign that displayed yard signs, banners, stickers, posters, and window clings. In addition there was media coverage, and billboards paid for by Drug Free Communities Support grants and the UW Community Academic Partnership grant. The campaign in Rock County was implemented with special focus during prom, graduation and homecoming season. The Parents Who Host Lose the Most campaign will be implented throughout Rock County at each of these key points. Anyone that would like to participate, please contact Partners in Prevention.

Local Statistics:

According to the 2010 Youth Risk Behavior Survey:

• 29% of students in grades 6-12 used alcohol in the past 30 days
• 17% of students in grades 6-12 got drunk in the last two weeks
• 32% of students in grades 6-12 have ridden in a car driven by someone who was drinking alcohol
• 23.1% of high school students started drinking before age 13, with 7.6% reporting having their first drink before age 8
• 31% of high school students reported getting their alcohol from someone over the age of 21

Partnerships

Partners in Prevention works to implement this campaign with:

• Rock County Sheriff’s Department
• Janesville Police Department
• Y2Y groups in Evansville, Janesville and Beloit
• SADD group in Milton
• Edgerton Coalition for a Healthy Community
• Evansville Working Group
• Janesville and Beloit area Crime Stoppers

Look for these in your neighborhood!

• Billboards
• News stories
• Posters
• Letters to the Editor
• Yard Signs
• Banners
• Stickers
• Window Clings
• Parent letter and tips distributed to all Rock County schools
• Public Service Announcements
• Media coverage

In 2009, the Y2Y group created this Parents Who Host Public Service Announcement! Listen to it here: Parents who host PSA.mp3

Evaluation

The evaluation results of this program support its effectiveness for increasing knowledge of underage drinking laws, providing important educational information to parents and youth about underage drinking, and helping to prevent parents and other adults from hosting parties where alcohol is available or served to teens. As the Wisconsin state initiative implements this program, we hope to see positive change in our own state.