Press Release

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February 26, 2007

Bay Point and Rodeo teens describe their campaign to limit alcohol access for minors in a new video that made its broadcast debut this month throughout Contra Costa County.

"Lock It Up: An Environmental Prevention Project" combines in its title the slogan of the campaign and the type of approach the campaign used. It is an eight-minute mini-documentary playing currently on Contra Costa Television (CCTV), the county cable station. It can also be viewed online at cchealth.org, the Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) website, from the Alcohol and Other Drugs Services page.

"It made sense to have the youth tell their own story," said Fatima Matal Sol, a program director with CCHS' Alcohol and Other Drugs Services Division. " They chose the direction and theme of the campaign, and their voices deliver a strong message that every parent should hear."

Nearly all of the on- and off-camera narration of the video is by four teens in two youth groups: Youth in Power, from Carquinez Middle School in Rodeo, and Beyond the Youth, from Riverview Middle School in Bay Point. "Contra Costa Health Services worked with the Center for Human Development and Bay Area Community Resources to recruit and mentor the youth groups," said Matal Sol. "The teens were quite united in their selection of this particular message and logo."

"The students started by surveying more than 200 of their peers, and they found that 65% of them can access alcohol from their home environment, frequently with the help of older siblings and friends," said Anita Marquez, Site Director of the Center for Human Development resource center in East Contra Costa. "They decided to educate parents and raise awareness about monitoring liquor access in the home."

The video describes how the teens chose the slogan and helped design a lock-and-key logo to encourage adults to lock home liquor cabinets to prevent teen access. That logo and message was displayed in high schools, buses, BART stations and movie theaters.

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 as well as to produce the video, said Matal Sol.

The video will be airing on CCTV at 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 2. For other airtimes, visit contracostatv.org on the web. Contra Costa Television is Channel 27 on all cable systems in Contra Costa except for Comcast subscribers in Walnut Creek, who watch on Channel 19, and Astound Cable subscribers who can watch on Channel 32.

For more information about AOD Services in Contra Costa, visit the CCHS website or call Gary Smith at 800-846-1652.

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