Despite what it may seem like, not everyone is drinking underage.
An Indiana report in 2018 showed that 21% of youths ages 12 to 20 had consumed alcohol in the past month. While that statistic is significant, that means that almost 80% of young people were making healthy decisions, even if peer pressure makes it seem like that’s not the case.
One key to attacking the scourge of underage drinking is helping teens understand that not everyone is doing it.
“What we want to do is change that social norm, that it’s normal for kids to be drinking alcohol. It shouldn’t be our norm here in Johnson County. So changing that perception that you have to drink to be cool, you have to drink to have fun, you have to go to parties where drinking is going on,” said Miranda Bloomfield, assistant community coordinator for the prevention group Empower Johnson County.
To help do that and stem the rise of underage drinking, Empower Johnson County has received a $50,000 grant to educate young people and parents on the realities of alcohol abuse.
The grant expands efforts to reach more youth in the county through the expansion of youth coalitions, community awareness activities and alcohol-free events.
“We’re campaign heavy in (vaping and tobacco), so we applied for this grant knowing that there was more we could do to prevent alcohol use in our community, but we just didn’t have enough money,” said Michelle McMahon, community coordinator for Empower Johnson County. “This will build and increase our capacity for what we’re already doing in underage prevention and add a little bit more.”
The grant is an extension of an existing federal grant that Empower Johnson County has received from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Funding was provided through the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act, signed in 2006, to provide funding for underage alcohol abuse initiatives.
Over the grant’s four-year span, Empower Johnson County will be able to continue programs that have proven effective in addressing underage drinking and build upon those, McMahon said.
Empower Johnson County was formed in 2015 to reduce and prevent youth substance abuse through advocacy, education and enforcement. The group brings volunteers together from all areas of the community, including health care, law enforcement, social services and local schools. Its goal is initiatives and programs to decrease the use of tobacco, alcohol and other substances in those 18 and under.
With limited funding, the organization put an emphasis on vaping and nicotine in recent years. But underage alcohol abuse remains a critical issue, and they wanted to find a way to focus on it in the coming years.
One of the main initiatives the grant will allow is the growth of youth coalitions in the county, Broomfield said.
“Our hope is that we can grow these coalitions. The best information and most influential information that students will hear is from their peers,” she said.
Empower Johnson County has organized three youth coalitions throughout the area — one at Center Grove Middle School Central, at Franklin Community Middle School and a newly formed county-wide high school coalition dubbed Empowered Youth.
The youth coalitions are key in the organization’s efforts to reach young people, in conjunction with its Be the Majority campaign, Broomfield said.
“It’s really highlighting the feeling that everyone is doing it — everyone is drinking, everyone is vaping. The reality is that a majority of our students are not making those decisions. They’re making healthy decisions not to drink or vape or smoke,” she said.
Using part of the grant funding, the hope is to get all six Johnson County public high schools involved. Bloomfield also wants to grow the middle school coalitions.
“The younger we can start getting these kids involved in these activities, the more likely they’ll be to continue making good decisions into high school,” she said.
At the same time, Empower Johnson County understands how important it is to discuss the perils of underage drinking with parents as well. Parents are the biggest influence on students’ decision not to drink alcohol, so parents need to start those conversations early.
Education components would help parents teach their kids how to say no, how to stand up to peer pressure and ways to assert themselves if someone offers them alcohol, said Donald Peek, Empower Johnson County chair.
“We know a lot of this starts at home, it starts with the parents. If their high school student says they want to have a party, and at all the other parties they go to the parents are buying beer, we want to set the example to them that’s not OK,” he said.
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Underage Drinking grant
What: Empower Johnson County, which aims to reduce and prevent youth substance abuse through advocacy, education, and enforcement, received the grant to expand programming addressing underage alcohol use.
How much: $50,000 over four years
Where did it come from: The grant was given by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration through the federal Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act program.
What will it go towards: Expanding youth coalitions, community awareness activities, and alcohol-free events for youth and families.
Information: upstreamprevention.org
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