Parent Campaign

UNDERAGE ALCOHOL USE PREVENTION

Our Goal: To reduce and prevent underage drinking by giving parents the tools they need to help their children build resilience and make healthy choices when regarding substance use.

Materials

WHAT WE DO

Throughout the school year, Power of Choice releases new PSAs for parents that are sent in school emails and posted on social media. The campaign also designs physical handouts that are distributed at various school events and available in school buildings. These materials provide parents with useful information about the risks of underage drinking and advice on parenting strategies that help prevent youth substance use.

With new content put out throughout the entire school year, posts discuss a wide variety of topics including:

Tips on having conversations with your children about not drinking underage
The risks of underage use
Effective parental monitoring
Setting clear expectations
Figuring out appropriate consequences for use
And more

Check out our most recent materials below!

Tabling

Power of Choice tablings provide an opportunity for our team to talk directly with parents and provide them with resources. Past events have included curriculum nights and parent teacher conferences. If you have an event you would like us to come to, please fill out the “Contact Us” form to let us know.

Committee

The 6th-8th Grade Power of Choice Committee has largely focused on the student campaign in the past, but is currently expanding to work more with parents and guide the parent campaign. The committee is made up of representatives from every D204 middle school and D203 junior high, as well as vested community members and parents. At our bi-monthly meetings, the committee works to:

Discuss trends that they have noticed in our schools and community
Give feedback on current campaign efforts
Suggest and facilitate opportunities for Power of Choice programming
Help guide new initiatives and materials

Survey & Focus Groups

Twice a year, Power of Choice conducts parent and student feedback surveys. We use the results of these surveys to guide the next year’s campaigns.

At the end of the school year, the first survey asks parents of 6th-8th graders to share what sources of information they find credible, what types of materials they pay attention to, where they most often notice materials, and about if/where they have seen the past year’s materials. Parents are surveyed again at the beginning of the next school year to provide feedback on the potential designs, layouts, and messaging of the coming year’s materials

The parent campaign also conducts focus groups to collect initial feedback on theme ideas for the next year’s campaign from 6th-8th grade parents. They are scheduled for late spring, with each group spending about an hour reviewing and giving input on potential future themes.