On Friday, November 13, the Parents Who Host Committee (PWH) of the Birmingham Bloomfield Community Coalition gathered at Cranbrook Kingswood School to label postcards to every public and private high school family in the Birmingham Bloomfield community, approximately 8,000 in all.   The postcard includes a quiz and reminds parents to ‘be a parent rather than a pal.’   Its purpose is to heighten parents’ awareness of what their teens are doing and encourage parents to have conversations with their teens about underage drinking and curfews, etc. 

Carol Mastroianni, executive director, noted “This year we included some startling statistics on the postcard so we, as parents, understand the need to really step up the parenting efforts with our children.” For example, did you know…

·        A 2008 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA) report revealed that adults provided more than 40% of our 10.8 million underage drinkers with alcohol.

·        Oakland County’s underage drinking rate is higher than that of the national average. In a recent 10-year study by the Oakland County Health Department, of the more than 10,000 students surveyed, children as young as 5^th grade or below reported alcohol use.

·        Almost 78% of 8^th graders, 91% of 10^th graders and 95% of 12^th graders reported that alcohol was “very easy” to obtain.

The Birmingham Police and Bloomfield Township Police Departments along with the BBFA (Building Better Families Through Action) have, once again, partnered with the Coalition on this campaign. In addition, the Coalition would like to give a special thank you to:

·        Julie Galante who founded then successfully led the PWH Committee over the years. Her passion for mobilizing our community, especially the parent sector, to help reduce the use of alcohol, tobacco and other substances by our youth, has been exemplary.

·        Kim Watzman for capably and enthusiastically jumping into the PWH Committee chairperson’s role.

·        Laurie Blume of Blume Designs for, once again, lending her wonderful design skills in creating the postcard.

·        The Bloomfield Township Police Department for funding this project.

·         All the wonderful women who actively participate on the PWH Committee. It is because of each and every one of you that the Coalition’s substance abuse prevention messages are able to reach so many parents in our community and, in turn, have a positive impact on our youth.

Please note: The section of our website which contains the BAPNAP survey has disappeared (yet another unexplained cyberspace mystery). We appreciate your patience as we work to correct the problem.