The Middlesex County community is invited to join a discussion among parents, youth, educators and other community members about underage drinking and raising awareness about it at 6 p.m. April 30 at the Alexander F. Jankowski Community Center in Perth Amboy. The center is located at 1 Olive St.
The dangers of underage drinking, especially among the county’s Latino community, will be showcased as area youth will be joined by Perth Amboy’s Mayor Wilda Diaz and other community leaders. The event is taking place in recognition of Alcohol Awareness Month, an annual event that encourages communities to reach out to the public with information about alcohol and alcoholism as a chronic, progressive disease, fatal if untreated, and genetically predisposed.
The forumis being presented by the Youth Community Leadership Academy (YCLA) and NCADD of Middlesex County Inc., the Perth Amboy Municipal Alliance and its Youth Coalition, and the Middlesex County Coalition for Healthy Communities’ Underage Drinking Task Force. It is designed to increase the public’s awareness that alcohol use by persons under age 21 years is a major public health problem.
For more information, contact Lis Mery Ramirez, Perth Amboy Municipal Alliance coordinator, at the Perth Amboy Office of Recreation, at 732-826-1690, ext. 4325, or Jason Victor, preventionist at NCADD of Middlesex County, 732-254-3344.