GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the Travis County Underage Drinking Prevention Program (UDPP) is to reduce fatalities and injuries resulting from underage drinking and impaired driving. Some objectives of the program are to:

• Increase community awareness of the zero tolerance law and deter the availability of alcohol obtained through family, friends, parties, and strangers;

• Conduct alcohol education and prevention activities in high schools, middle schools, and youth groups;

• Form alliances among community groups that address underage drinking and driving and create the UDPP task force.

• Develop media campaigns for the high-risk seasons of Christmas, New Year’s, Spring Break, and Prom/Graduation; and

• Identify links between underage drinking, underage Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), and other social issues, such as binge drinking, HIV exposure, teen pregnancy, juvenile crime, date rape, truancy, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and alcohol poisoning.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The UDPP was initiated as a demonstration program in 1996 through the efforts of the Texas Department of Transportation and the Travis County Attorney's Office. Today it serves as a clearinghouse of information and offers training for DWI prevention programs to jurisdictions throughout the state.

Using a successful program developed in Washington, DC as a model, the mission statement of the UDPP is “To create a community consensus that underage drinking is illegal, unhealthy, and unacceptable.” The UDPP sponsors a variety of activities, including:

• Conducting presentations targeting anti-DWI and alcohol awareness in high schools "Why Risk It?" and middle schools "Busted!".

• Participating in other underage drinking and driving prevention programs such as Fatal Vision Goggle demonstrations, Shattered Dreams school projects, local SoberRide Programs, Project Celebration, Christmas/New Year’s Emphasis Patrol (with law enforcement), and Campaign Safe & Sober (seasonal, federal campaign).

• Producing a bi-monthly cable television talk show called Focus on Youth and Alcohol.

• Preventing duplicate activities by coordinating with other groups and agencies such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Safe and Drug Free Schools Advisory Councils, and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

• Creating Project Prom Coffee, a pilot program with local coffee shops, to give prom goers free coffee and anti-DWI information on prom night.

• Developing anti-DWI materials for incoming freshmen at local colleges and universities.

RESULTS