The Independent Identifying environmental factors that promote underage drinking will be the focus of a community study launched by the Underage Drinking Prevention Coalition. While working to identify environmental areas of prevention, coalition members also will look at the judicial system, which Braesch said has seen a surge in underage drinking cases in recent years. So we want to work with the judges to help determine the needs in that area. The coalition is part of Project Extra Mile, which is aimed at addressing underage drinking on a local level, educating juveniles at an early age about the dangers of drinking and discouraging underage drinking and adult procurement of alcohol for minors. The project is sponsored by the council on alcohol and is funded through a grant from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety.
Grand Island is among several Nebraska communities to launch such projects.
The coalition's primary goal is to motivate communities to change standards that encourage teen drinking. The local coalition has established secondary goals to deglamorize the promotion and use of alcohol, increase the number of teens who understand the risks associated with alcohol abuse, eliminate easy access and availability of alcohol to youth and help enforce the no-tolerance policy regarding underage drinking. The work groups meet independently. Then all members gather for a monthly coalition meeting where a representative from each work group provides a progress report. Braesch said coalition plans are coming together well but added that the community as a whole has been less interested in the project than she had expected.