PORT ANGELES — Nine out of 10 Port Angeles parents think it’s not OK for teens to drink alcohol, and the Port Angeles Healthy Youth Coalition put the results of the 2009 parent survey on the back of a Clallam Transit bus.
Dale Holiday, Clallam County prevention specialist and the administrator of a $625,000 national Drug Free Communities grant to support the youth coalition’s work in Port Angeles, said the banner is on a bus that serves the No. 22 Lincoln-Peabody and the No. 24 Cherry Hill routes.
The banner depicts a girl and her father painting a fence with lime-green colors.
The one-year, $1,600 ad campaign is intended to show that fewer parents condone underage drinking than one might expect, Holiday said.
“It’s a method called ‘social norms,’” she said.
“It’s a way of getting information out there that might be different than what people perceive.”
Studies show . . .
Studies have shown that social norms campaigns reduce substance abuse in youths, Holiday said.
“It’s a way to get people to be aware of what’s really going on and to feel free to abide by that,” she said.
“When kids find out that a lot of their friends don’t do that [drink alcohol], it can have an effect on behavior.”
The survey was mailed to parents by the Port Angeles School District in conjunction with the Port Angeles Healthy Youth Coalition.
Clallam County is the fiscal agent for the Drug Free Communities grant, which was awarded in October. The healthy youth coalition directs how the money is spent.
No coalition, no grant
“Without the coalition, there’s no grant,” Holiday said.
Holiday said the coalition will soon have flyers on Port Angeles Domino’s Pizza boxes that read: “Port Angeles Kids Do Great Things.”
The stick-on fliers will have information about the coalition and on how to participate.
The Port Angeles Healthy Youth Coalition was formed in 2003 by a University of Washington Social Development Research Group Communities That Care grant to study the prevention of substance abuse.
The coalition tries to prevent youth substance abuse to reduce adult substance abuse over time.
For more information on the Port Angeles Healthy Youth Coalition, phone Holiday at 417-2436.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
