Southborough Wicked Local reports that a five town collaborative, including Southborough is working towards reducing underage drinking. The three year project is backed by a $300,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
According to the story, any resident is welcome to join our town’s coalition. The Hudson based project also includes coaltions from Framingham, Ashland, and Northborough:
A five-town substance abuse prevention collaborative is creating an initiative to combat underage drinking which, after it completes a year of planning, will kick into action on July 1. . .
According to Healy, the town coalitions have spent the past two months gathering information on how underage drinking affects their community through interviews, focus groups and surveying. Each community has formed a coalition of between 15 and 30 volunteers.
“We’ve identified several running themes throughout the communities,” Healy said. “We want everything to be as evidence-based as possible. Sustainability of the program is key.”
About one in six teenagers binge drinks, Healy said. But only one in 100 parents believe their kids binge drink. Additionally, Healy has found that many of the common causes that lead teens toward substance abuse are a lack of family involvement in their lives, family substance abuse, school stress and past traumas. In order to reach out to teens as well as parents, the coalitions will be working with high schools, churches and other community hubs.
To learn more, click here for the full article.
