Over the past 9 years, the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws program has successfully built partnerships with law enforcement, community organizations, and government officials to implement evidence-based strategies to reduce youth access to alcohol. To establish and maintain a grasp on the problems and consequences of underage drinking, a blueprint must be developed to integrate three key elements: environmental strategies and laws, enforcement, and public support.

The Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center’s 9th Annual National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida highlighted communities, programs, and other initiatives that successfully implemented science, performance, and data-driven strategies to support the reduction of youth access to alcohol. This conference acted as an “incubator of new ideas”– it was a place where colleagues converged to be inspired by creative and unique ways of thinking.

Commissioners Kunal Mangal and Andres Cano attended this conference and hosted a workshop titled Pay it Forward: Go Lead Our World! Kunal and Andres led a seventy minute PowerPoint presentation to an audience of 250 youth. The commissioners taught the audience how to engage youth in community service projects, and how to plan a summit event that will directly impact the communities they represent. The workshop featured an interactive portion during which participants completed their own “toolkits” using hypothetical situations related to underage drinking. Additionally, participants learned how to illustrate the importance of employing a positive youth development philosophy when engaging diverse youth populations, as well as how to prioritize community leaders through service projects.