• New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey
• Principal Chris DeJesus, Hedgepeth/Williams Middle School
• Bill Georges, Senior Vice President – Programs, The Century Council

Why

• 54 percent of adolescents say they have tried alcohol by the time they reached the eighth grade. (Federal Government Study: “Talking to Your Child About Alcohol”)
• Nearly 38% of 13-15 year olds drank on average of 5 occasions over the past year.
  (TCC Research: Parents, Kids and Alcohol)
• First consumption of alcohol typically begins around age 12. (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
• Only 4 percent of teens reported that it is “difficult” for someone their age to get alcohol.
  (TCC Research: Parents, Kids and Alcohol)

When

Monday, September 26, 2005 – 1:30 p.m.

Where

Hedgepeth/Williams Middle School
301 Gladstone Avenue
Trenton, NJ 08629

What

• Ask, Listen, Learn: Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix, is a highly creative multimedia program, developed through a partnership between The Century Council and Nickelodeon—the industry expert on kids—that helps facilitate conversations between parents and their children before they have are confronted with the opportunity to drink alcohol.
• Designed by a team of educators and psychologists specializing in middle school aged students, the interactive program helps parents have effective conversations about alcohol with their kids, using a number of accessible resources including a public service announcement featuring Attorney General Harvey which will be distributed statewide.
• The conversations are needed and make a difference 65% of adolescents say parents are the leading influence not to drink.
• Attorney General Harvey is making the program booklets available to principals of every middle school in the state of New Jersey.

Ask, Listen, Learn with Attorney General Harvey

Ask, Listen, Learn includes:

• A parent’s booklet, detailing how to begin the conversation, sustain the conversation and make an impact on kids. It presents effective questions, data, conversation starters and answers to typical objections kids raise.
• A kid’s booklet, with interactive tests about alcohol’s impact on the body, trading cards (over 7 million trading cards are expected to circulate), how to avoid peer pressure, creative ways to say no, and interactive games with parents.
• Websites produced by Nickelodeon,– www.asklistenlearn.com and www.asklistenlearnparents.com, where kids can go to get more information on avoiding peer pressure,
• Television advertising, produced by Nickelodeon, to encourage discussions about the dangers of underage drinking between parents and kids.

The Century Council, launched in 1991, is a national not-for-profit organization funded by America's leading distillers: Bacardi U.S.A., Inc., Brown-Forman, Constellation Brands, Cruzan, Ltd., DIAGEO, Future Brands LLC, Hood River Distillers, Inc., Pernod Ricard USA and Sydney Frank Importing Co., Inc. The Council's mission is to promote responsible decision-making regarding drinking or non-drinking of beverage alcohol and discourages all forms of irresponsible consumption through education, communications, research, law enforcement and other programs. For more information on The Council log onto www.centurycouncil.org.