Penn College Awarded $15,000 Grant for Alcohol Abuse Prevention

Pennsylvania College of Technology has been awarded a $15,000 grant by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to support its mission of preventing underage and high-risk alcohol use by students.

The college will use the grant to fund its ongoing underage and dangerous alcohol consumption education efforts, said Carl L. Shaner, College Health Services director and grant coordinator.

The Alcohol Education Grants are one component in support of the PLCB's mission to provide leadership and resources in reducing alcohol misuse in the commonwealth. In general, the PLCB grants support a range of initiatives, including law enforcement training and community and youth outreach and prevention programs.

Shaner said the grant specifically will fund a number of initiatives:

• A portion will be used to defray expenses for an on-campus billboard in the Spring 2012 semester advertising the Impaired Student Recovery Area and the importance of calling for emergency care when an individual has had too much to drink.
• Also, in Fall 2012, Penn College will implement an online alcohol abuse prevention program that will be mandatory for all first-year students. The goal of the program is to encourage incoming students to assess their own attitudes and beliefs about alcohol, debunk myths about alcohol, and promote personal responsibility.
• Penn College Police will use part of the grant to purchase an Intoximeter breathalyzer, a device similar to those used by state and local police that measures blood-alcohol content. The funding also will allow police to conduct targeted patrols during times when student drinking has been noted to rise including Thursday nights, weekends and holiday breaks.
• Funding additionally will go toward training at the Impaired Student Recovery Area, staffed by EMTs that monitor students who have been found to have ingested an amount of alcohol that could be a danger to themselves or others.

The grants awarded to Penn College and 76 other organizations represent a shift in focus on the part of the PLCB, Shaner said. In the past, the college typically used the funds to defray the cost of alcohol-free, "alternative" events offered on campus.

Now, however, he explained, the PLCB requires its grant recipients to focus on developing "environmental management strategies" designed to reduce underage and high-risk drinking. Studies conducted by the Higher Education Center, which falls under the U.S. Department of Education, have shown that strategies targeted at the "environment" in Penn College's case, the campus and surrounding neighborhood are more effective.

The PLCB is an independent agency that manages the alcohol beverage industry in Pennsylvania. It is responsible for licensing the possession, sale, storage, transportation, importation and manufacture of wine, spirits, and malt or brewed beverages in the commonwealth, as well as operating a system of liquor distribution (retailing) and providing education and prevention services to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol misuse.

The PLCB grant program is administered by the board's Bureau of Alcohol Education.

For more information about Penn College, visit online , email or call toll-free 800-367-9222.

For more information about grant-funding opportunities, faculty and staff may contact the Grants and Contracts Office at ext. 7562 or through its Web portal.