CETPA - TLAAP Program

TLAAP Program...

Information Regarding TLAAP

Moving Forward with CETPA's Underage Drinking Project -
Between 2000 and 2009 Latino youth were the second most arrested for
possession of alcohol and alcohol related offenses in Gwinnett County.

CETPA's Team for Latino Alcohol Abuse Prevention (TLAAP) has a primary objective
to create a prevention program to reduce the incidence of arrests among Latino
youth due to possession of alcohol products and its related consequences.

We are pleased to announce the activities that are currently being implemented
as part of the Underage Drinking Project for the Latino community in Gwinnett
County. TLAAP has worked this past year to identify, develop and implement the
best strategies to address the growing incidence of underage drinking among the
Latino youth in Gwinnett. The first step to raise awareness in our community is to
spread the word about the health risks and legal consequences of underage
drinking.

If you would like to be a part of this initiative, please join us at our monthly
meetings! Our coalition meets the second Friday of each month 9:00am-10:30am, in
our Prevention Building located at 1750 Young Court,

Creating Lasting Family Connections Program (CLFC):

We have successfully completed six sessions in each school with students and
their parents at Summerour Middle School and Lilburn Middle School. CLFC allowed
over 80 students and their parents to seek information regarding underage
drinking and provide them the necessary tools to reduce underage drinking and
access to alcohol, through the establishment of communication and boundaries in
an active and engaged way. Through the CLFC program, Parents were able to
increase knowledge about how to promote healthy family communication,
household bonding, and will increase skills on how to talk to their kids about
underage drinking, among other things.
The following are the successes and most relevant results of the Creating Lasting
Family Connections Program:

- The number of youth participants that have spoken to their parents about
alcohol and drugs have increased by 32.9%.

- The number of youth participants that believe there is great risk associated with
underage drinking increased by 53%.

- The number of youth participants that think they have the refusal skills to avoid
the pressure from their peers to drink alcohol or try other drugs increased by 86%.

- The number of parents that set clear boundaries in regards to underage drinking
with their children increased by 14%.

Community Talks:

Our first Community Talk about the health risks and legal consequences of
underage drinking made a statement on Cinco de Mayo.

Community Talks will give the Latino community access to accurate factual
information about underage drinking. These talks will inform parents and adults of
the health risks, and risky behaviors that accompany underage drinking. It will
also address the legal consequences for underage drinkers and adults who
provide alcohol to minors. Many people in our Latino community do not know the
health harm and increase likelihood for youth to engage in drinking behavior when
drinking, nor do they know about the legal consequences of providing alcohol and
hosting parties where there is underage drinking.

This is one of the best strategies in order to prevent and/or reduce underage
drinking in our Latino community. Also, through the Community Talks we are able
to inform our community about these issues, which may prevent them from
incurring in legal problems related to alcohol possession, and debunk the myth of
"I didn't know."

This was one of six talks, which are scheduled for this year. It took place at Saint
Patrick's Catholic Church, which is located at Beaver Ruin Rd. in Norcross.

We will be posting the dates and locations of our upcoming community talks, in
order to continue our efforts in spreading the word about this issue.

"Poster Contest":
As part of the healthy
alternative activities we are
continuously promoting within
our Latino youth, we
conducted a poster contest in
which the Heroes and
Clubhouse teens were able to
use their creativity and
unique ideas to send a
message to their peers,
related to their view of the
risks and consequences of
underage drinking. We invited
CETPA staff and community
members to be the judges,
and it was definitely a tight
competition.

The contest winners were
named and awarded their
prizes, in a gathering that
Prevention Building on May
12th, 2011. Take a look at
their wonderful work!
Congratulations to the
winners:

1st Place: Elizabeth Rosado
(Shown Below)
"Don't Let Alcohol Control
You... Control Yourself"
2nd Place: Francisco Ozuna
3rd Place: Simone
Loretdemola