Coalition to reduce youth alcohol use to hold free event

Echo Press

By Beth Leipholtz

April 7, 2017

MINNESOTA – Members of the Alexandria community will soon start seeing signs of a new media campaign meant to reduce youth alcohol use, put into action by the Healthy Voices, Healthy Choices coalition.

The campaign is the result of a five-year grant awarded by the Minnesota Department of Human Services Alcohol and Drug Abuse division. Over the course of five years, the Alexandria area will be awarded $1 million for work in youth alcohol use prevention.

Katie Strickler, grant coordinator and health educator at Horizon Public Health, said the grant was awarded because Alexandria had a higher percentage of survey responders indicate they had used alcohol than the state average.

“Once we knew we qualified with that, they look at a couple other things,” Strickler said. “Your community has to be ready and show support that they will back this grant and support the work it’s doing.”

The Healthy Voices, Healthy Choices coalition is made up of members from 14 different sectors of the community, including business, media, schools, law enforcement, religious organizations, justice and corrections, civic volunteer groups, health care and local government.

“We do that so we can get a broad range of people who are at the table to address this issue,” Strickler said.

In February, students in the Alexandria school district in grades six through 12 took a survey about their own alcohol use, as well as their perception of their peers’ alcohol use. The coalition will receive the results of those surveys in May, and will use the data for the campaign.

“We want to correct any misperceptions there are out in the community,” Strickler said. “A lot of times, the assumption is that all of our kids are drinking … I think it’s important to acknowledge that not all of our kids are drinking, and a lot of our kids are making positive choices. We want to highlight those positive choices and share with students that if they choose not to drink, they’re actually part of the majority.”

From 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19, the coalition will host a free event in the commons area of Alexandria Area High School. Dinner will be included, and Jeff Linkenbach, a research scientist and author, will speak on the idea of positive community norms.

Though this event is free, attendees must register online by visiting www.eventbrite.com and searching “Our Voice, Our Choice Event” in Alexandria, MN.

For more information, contact Strickler at (320) 762-2142, ext. 4617, or katies@horizonph.org.