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Ms. Ayers, I wanted to interview you today because a main focus of the ePrevco Website is the use of community organizing to implement environmental strategies to reduce underage drinking. I hear that Louisiana is taking some exciting steps to combat this problem, and I’d like to learn more about your experiences.
Please tell me about the formation and history of your Alliance. What types of members do you have in the coalition, and can you provide some examples of how you all work together to agree on common goals and work towards them?
The formation started in 1996 and 1997, when a Request For Proposal was issued by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. At that time, a group of individuals, probably about 20, formed the coalition and wrote the grant. Our proposal was selected, and we began Phase I of the grant in 1997 with approximately 20 active advisory board members. Members consist of representatives from the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the Alcohol Tobacco Control Board, Louisiana State University (LSU) Medical Center, the Attorney General’s Office, Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD), and college and university representatives. In the first year, we worked to develop a database, and now, our database has a thousand plus. Although we have a large database, we’ve learned that numbers are not nearly important as those who are active. We want to have representation from around the State of those who really work together. So we still have some good activists, and they’ve been very consistent from the very beginning. We’re now in our second funding phase, which began in January 2001, and we go to 2004. We identified our policies by looking at what research says will ultimately reduce underage drinking. The most researched policy was the alcohol excise tax, and that was chosen. Keg tracking laws, which have been very popular around the country, were also chosen, and we’re beginning now to look at the alcohol industry influence on billboards and radio. Through the years, we have realized that the State does not have as much staying power, and it’s more of a national policy unless you just do the billboards in minority neighborhoods and have it focused on how the industry really targets minorities. We also have a mandatory 21, and that was chosen after a crisis when a student at LSU died of alcohol poisoning after a fraternity event.
So what exactly does the mandatory 21 policy cover?
The mandatory 21 policy would not allow anyone under 21 years old into a bar or lounge where alcohol is the main commodity sold. Twenty-six States have had that requirement; however, in Louisiana, you can enter a bar when you’re 18 and no one with you. The mandatory 21 is the policy goal we’re working on right now to get passed in the State of Louisiana.
And you also mentioned keg tracking?
It’s the same as keg registration. It’s just that with keg registration, it implies that the vendor will be registering the keg, and all the work is focused on the vendor. When that didn’t fly a few years ago, we tried to repackage it as keg tracking so that the purchaser will be held responsible. It’s just trying to sell it to the politicians—semantics, you know. The purchaser will be held responsible for the contents of the keg and sign a statement that he or she will not supply the contents to those under 21 years of age.
From what I understand, your Alliance is a Statewide effort to prevent underage drinking. It must be difficult to cover such a large area with limited resources. Do you work on local issues as well, and how do you prioritize which issues to address both locally and Statewide? What would you recommend for other Statewide coordinators?
Initially, we worked mainly on the State issues, but what we have learned is that the industry is so strong and has such a choke hold on the capital and government here that we are moving when there is a local area that can move some local policy. If local areas are ready and asking for assistance in passing policies, we certainly aid them. Four parishes here (equivalent to counties elsewhere) have adopted mandatory 21. Since yesterday, we’ve talked to a couple of parishes that are interested in the keg tracking policies because we do not have strong pre-emption laws regarding alcohol.
As for recommendations for other programs, I think a mistake we made is that we tried to get numbers because we were under the impression that numbers would be impressive. Our surveys on frequent voter support for age- and alcohol-related issues indicate possible voter support, but we’ve learned that you should focus more on some key activists who are not restricted by their employment from addressing legislators and make sure that they have the information and opportunity to go in and address committees, for example.
Please discuss how you completed your needs or community assessment. For example, did you conduct one large assessment of all alcohol-related problems or did you pick a specific problem and conduct a problem assessment? Describe what you might do differently if you had to do it again.
The very first policy selection was done by the original grant writers. Most of these individuals had prevention and treatment backgrounds and were not policy-focused. In fact, the only true policy selected that would really reduce underage drinking was an alcohol excise tax. As we went along, it was a learning process. We made the slight shift from the prevention angle to the policy angle. We did not have the difficulties here that I have seen other States have. So many policies were lacking here compared with other States that I think people just swallowed it—“OK, that’s what we’re supposed to do.” Having the position as director, I knew I had to learn policy quickly. Initially, we had 4 years to change policy, and that’s not a specific amount of time. The board chair must understand environmental policies and statistics—“This is what this grant says we have to do”— and have a strong enough board membership with enough trust that they say, “OK then, that’s what we’ll do.” So we went on policy.
As far as data, we’ve done one survey that we commissioned on our own, and our evaluators have done another one. We also use the Pacific Institute for Research Evaluation publications, the State Communities That Care research, and direct mailing campaigns produced by Facing Alcohol Concerns through Education.
I understand that youth are very involved in this project. Please describe the role that youth have played in the coalition efforts.
We have three or four different roles with the youth. The initial grant states that there needs to be youth involvement, so it has been there from the beginning. We started off, and we still have, a State conference for adult membership and one for youth membership. The one for youth membership is done on the weekends, when the kids can be there. It’s called LA STARS (Louisiana Students Targeting Alcohol Reduction Statewide), which to me is like one coin that has the heads and the tails, with one side the Louisiana Alliance and the other the LA STARS. Together, we form the complete picture, with youth and adults working together. Each year, we get students, and we do some advocacy and policy work with either their local option work or with what’s going on in the State. I have to say that our youth are more versed in policy than the general adult population. We also have SWAMP (Students With A Major Purpose). This is a Statewide student-written newsletter in which all the articles have to be alcohol-related. SWAMP is more for high school students.
We have a group of college kids that is very active. If a political science or journalism major wants to do some journalism work, we do a college media activist training where we do forms and editorials that pretty much list the information so the kids can take them back and plug them and run them in their college newspapers. We also have them monitor alcohol advertisements in the paper and around the campus, and we use that at different times, depending on our need. They are paid a stipend for working with us and getting articles back and forth. Last year, we also did an alcohol-free spring break for the college students for 4 days. We found out when most of the universities had their spring break, and we went to a pitiful little beach in Lake Charles. We were there from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday, and we did all the spring break activities. I was terrified that I was going to have a nervous breakdown, but all I had was fun.
I understand that the Alliance recently hosted a conference in which you had more than 1,000 youth attend from around the State. What were some of the major goals and objectives of the conference, and what types of activities did the youth participate in?
That is the Take Action conference. This year, it was in March, and it’s really a celebration for all the students who have worked in their SADD clubs or whatever clubs address positive behavior. Up until this year, we had called it Take a Stand, but there is a youth advisory council that votes on it. When I was working with them last September to organize it, one of the kids said: “You know, we’ve been taking a stand for 12 years. We need to take action.” So we changed the title to Take Action. As for followup from these conferences, that really depends on the sponsors. Some sponsors are still really into activities, but very gradually, these beliefs are beginning to change. The SADD State coordinator here is sold on policy, so we’re trying to lead the other State coordinators into more policy initiatives. We’re really beginning to see it happen.
Then we also do a youth summit, and that is the major project of our youth coordinator, Dortha Cummins. We have students from every political district in Louisiana come in during the legislative session, and we go over the age-specific policies that are being discussed in session. They vote on the ones they are most upset about, and we do a media event at the capital that day so they can talk to their elected officials. We have about 60 students for this event. When something happens in the legislature after the summit, we have everyone’s email addresses, so we send out updates on the policy issues the kids worked on.
I know that many other community organizations have struggled to recruit youth to participate, especially for environmental or policy-based changes. Do you have any tips or advice for other groups that may be trying to increase youth involvement?
We’ve been working with youth for a long time, so we didn’t just start from scratch. Last year was our 13th year to do our Take Action or Take a Stand conference in the State. Some of our backgrounds come from working with youth. I personally did private consulting for 8 years in different areas of the State, and I also worked in highway safety, so I had access. I was also a consultant for the Department of Education, so if something went out with my name, my name was known as an educator and working with youth. What we did is more like who we knew, and that is important. I would say you don’t have to create everything on your own. If it’s a MADD group, I don’t care what it’s called, the network is usually there. If you struggle to create your own, you’re wasting your time. Work with what’s there, and work on building it.
Please describe the coalition’s efforts to pass the .08 law and the current status of the law. Along these same lines, can you talk about State efforts to enforce your zero tolerance laws?
Right now, the .08 law has gone through the Senate committee and is off the Senate floor. On May 16th, it was to go to the House committee. Right now, we have four votes, and we need one more for a tie. We’re working hard, but we haven’t found that vote yet.
For our zero tolerance laws, we have created a toll-free number here, and whenever we do media events, we always re-issue the toll-free number. The number is for any local person who knows of any outlet or adult providing alcohol to someone under 21. The person can anonymously report it to this office, and we take it and report it to our ABC commissioner and the sheriff or whoever is in charge. Then a couple weeks later, we’ll inform the outlet about the report. So with zero tolerance, we’re trying to help law enforcement by publicizing the number and letting the vendors know that the citizens have a voice and can report it without being known. Our ABC is very active in conducting compliance checks.
One of the coalition’s goals is to limit alcohol advertisements. Have you begun efforts in this area, and if so, what strategies are you implementing?
Yes, this is one of our goals, but we really haven’t worked with that too much yet. We do not have billboard laws or restrictions here. If there are any restrictions, they are not local ones. The tobacco billboards were taken down about 18 months ago, but those billboards were replaced with alcohol billboards. We have done one African American symposium to address the industry targeting minorities where we looked at malt liquor and the billboard advertisements and outlet density in African American communities. It was very well received, and we’re planning to do it again in September.
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