New Jersey’s Childhood Drinking (CD) Coalition is a collaboration of statewide stakeholder organizations that have partnered to initiate a comprehensive strategy to prevent the serious issue of childhood drinking. The Union County Coalition’s Community Task Force acts as the Union County representative. The Union County CD Coalition holds monthly meetings where its members discuss various issues and challenges associated with preventing Childhood Drinking.

With research indicating that the average age of first use of alcohol is now 11 years old, the efforts of the Coalition are directed toward parents and children of all ages with an emphasis on preventing the early first use of alcohol. It is for this reason the term Childhood Drinking was chosen to be used.

As reported in the Union County Coalitions bi-annual survey, 65% of Union Counties 8th graders have already had their first drink. These numbers are much higher than the state and national average. Of the surveyed 8th grade students in New Jersey, 52.3% have used alcohol some time in their lifetimes. Findings from the Monitoring the Future survey indicate a lifetime alcohol prevalence of 47% for 8th graders nationwide in 2002.

The focus of the Childhood Drinking (CD) Coalition continues to be to review the research concerning the problem in our county and New Jersey to better design strategies to combat, and ultimately prevent childhood drinking.
The Union County CD Coalition invites you to help us get our message out to the public through radio, television, the World Wide Web and other innovative communication methods.

The Coalition provides many services to the community. One program in particular is the Start Talking Before They Start Drinking Campaign. This program focuses on combating underage drinking and to educating parents, youth, and others on the issue of alcohol abuse. You can protect your children from the risks associated with drinking by maintaining open communication and expressing a clear, consistent message about alcohol. Building a close relationship with your kids will make it easier for them to come to you for help in making decisions that impact their health and well-being.

Parents Who Host Lose the Most is a community-based awareness program intended to inform parents of the dangers and liabilities associated with underage drinking and social hosting.  More and more parents are not only supplying their children with alcohol but also with a venue to abuse it.  Some parents feel that they are unable to stop their children from drinking alcohol so parents feel it is best to allow their children to drink in their homes.  Not only is this dangerous to their child’s health, but it is also sending the message that their children are allowed to break the law and abuse other substances.  This program was created to dispel those myths and let parents know how dangerous underage drinking and social hosting can be.