Press Release

• Tweet

For Release: November 21, 2005

A campaign developed with the help of teens in Bay Point and Rodeo will take a high profile in high schools, buses, BART stations and movie theaters in December to publicize Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month.

"Lock It Up" is the name of the campaign sponsored by Contra Costa Health Services' Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Services Division. It sports a lock-and-key logo chosen by a group of students from Carquinez Middle School in Rodeo, called Youth in Power, and a group from Riverview Middle School in Bay Point called Beyond the Youth.

"Students surveyed more than 200 of their peers and found that 65% of them can access alcohol from their home environment, frequently with the help of older siblings and friends," said Fatima Matal Sol, director of the AOD program. "They want to educate parents and raise awareness about monitoring liquor access in the home."

"Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) worked with the Center for Human Development and Bay Area Community Resources to recruit and mentor the youth groups," said Laura Pasion, an AOD prevention specialist. "The teens were quite united in their selection of this particular message and logo."

The County Office of Education agreed to have "Lock It Up" posters at each public high school, and Safe and Drug Free Schools grant money was used to purchase advertising in busses, stations and Pittsburg theaters.

The survey by the youth groups was summarized in a 48-page booklet released last summer, "A Youth Developed Guide to AOD Indicators," that is available on CCHS' website. Other youth groups involved in surveying for the booklet included Asian Pacific Psychological Services, Friday Night Live/Club Live, Empowerment Through Action, and Richmond-based Discover the Reality of Our Community.

For more information about AOD Services in Contra Costa, visit Contra Costa Health Services' website at cchealth.org or call Gary Smith at 800-846-1652.

# # #