When Evanston City Council wanted to pass ordinances in October to discourage underage drinking, they had help from a 21-year-old group of residents, Northwestern employees and police officers dedicated to the cause.
The Evanston Substance Abuse Prevention Council researched possible ordinances and presented them to City Council. The ordinances that were passed, which banned underage patrons from Evanston bars after midnight, were based on the ESAPC’s recommendations.
It was a success in the coalition’s work to keep Evanston teens alcohol-free.
“We spent the better part of the last year working on ways to prevent underage drinking in Evanston,” said Mary Senn, project coordinator of the ESAPC.
Senn said the ESAPC is focusing on environmental strategies – the availability and costs of alcohol and alcohol-related ordinances – to prevent underage drinking.
“We were interested in setting up a regulation so that underage people in the community would not have such an easy time obtaining alcohol,” Senn said. “There are restaurants in the downtown core area that, after a certain time at night, become bars. We felt that city officials should say there is a certain time after which those who are underage cannot be in those restaurants.”
ESAPC had originally recommended 11 p.m. as the cut-off time for patrons under 21.
“I’m not sure how much difference the hour makes,” Senn said. “There are many of us who still feel we have some work to do on this issue in Evanston, but this is a step in the right direction.”
Senn said the true test will be in whether the ordinances make a significant difference.
The ESAPC is made up of three committees: education, advocacy and programming, and evaluation, said Sara Christensen, the program and evaluation committee chair for ESAPC. These committees work to educate the community about the effects of alcohol, to break down the stereotype that all teens drink and to increase community conversation on alcohol, Christensen said.
To meet these goals, Christensen said, the coalition has taken on more long-term projects and is currently working to evaluate the community’s response to its efforts and Evanston’s needs in alcohol prevention.
“Right now, we’re working on a community assessment, to identify needs and priorities in Evanston,” Christensen said. “Part of the purpose is to have a constant voice and as times change, the coalition changes.”
The coalition mainly focuses on middle school and high school underage drinking, but it also has a member directly linked to NU. Jessica Sempek, the coordinator of alcohol and other drug education at Northwestern University Health Service, is a member of the programming committee and said she uses her alcohol education role within the university to help in the community as well.
“I recognize the campus and the community are intertwined,” Sempek said. “As my role within the university is to focus on alcohol education, prevention and early intervention, it provides me with necessary community interaction.”
Senn said a link to NU is important because of the special alcohol issues found in a college town.
“All college towns share in common the issue of underage drinking and you have to deal with it the best that you can,” Senn said. “We would like to be able to work more collaboratively with other programs, especially with Northwestern.”
Reach Laura Olson at [email protected].
