From 1997 to 2004, staff at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) provided information, technical assistance and training to national and local policy groups interested in addressing underage drinking issues.

Key Results

• CSPI staff produced an array of information and motivational materials that grassroots leaders can use in their education activities on the local level.
• CSPI worked closely with a number of national alcohol and drug use prevention organizations to disseminate the information to their local constituents, effectively quadrupling the number of people receiving CSPI materials and tripling the number of pages accessed from the Alcohol Policies Project section of the CSPI Web site.
• CSPI staff also responded to some 525 requests for technical assistance, most handled through phone or e-mail interaction.
• CSPI made some 25 site visits to grassroots groups working on local-level alcohol policy issues to identify community needs, and it reached hundreds of people through training events from small local workshops to sessions held in conjunction with national meetings.
• During the last grant period, CSPI led a series of national education campaigns on issues ranging from sales of so-called "alcopops" (sweet-tasting soft drink-like beverages that contain alcohol and are marketed to young drinkers) to the increase of state alcohol excise taxes as a method to reduce alcohol consumption.

Funding

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provided three grants totaling $1,130,644, as well as additional funding of $30,000 from the Special Opportunities Fund for communications, to support this solicited project.