The Nashville Prevention Partnership
Nashville, Tennessee

The Nashville Prevention Partnership (NPP) is a community anti-drug coalition consisting of more than 300 organizations and individuals in Nashville. With the Alcohol & Drug Council of Middle Tennessee serves as the lead agency, NPP strives to bring agencies, organizations, and individuals together to reduce and prevent the problems associated with substance abuse. The Too Smart To Start team coordinates activities and events with schools, communities, faith-based organizations, and service providers to reach out to 9- to 13-year-olds, their parents, and the community in participating service areas in Nashville.

In partnership with local schools and youth-serving organizations, the NPP Too Smart To Start team works to increase youth awareness of the harms of underage alcohol use. Teachers, school staff, and program staff are trained on how to conduct a series of lessons in a classroom setting that address the risks of underage drinking. Part of the lesson series involves Too Smart To Start’s Ready, Set, Listen board game, which was created to encourage communication between parents and their children. In addition, the team, along with interested community stakeholders, designed and planned an event to be held at each participating middle school in order to allow parents to engage in meaningful activities with their children. The community will take ownership of the events by creating a plan that they feel will help create more awareness of the harms of underage alcohol use.

In the broader Nashville area, the NPP team enlists the aid of the media in its efforts to promote community awareness of the harms of underage alcohol use and to encourage parents to make alcohol less available to their children. Media outlets include newspapers, radio, billboards, and television. In addition, artwork and billboards that students created are displayed at the Nashville Public Library.