Summit County launches Path to Prevention campaign on underage drinking

Summit County health leaders are putting underage drinking in the open with a new campaign that starts at a familiar community venue and is meant to reach families before the school year ends. The county, along with Summit Support and Parents Empowered, will launch Path to Prevention through an event called Every Step Counts from 1 to 3 p.m. April 26 at the Park City Ice Arena.

The kickoff is designed to be more than a one-time presentation. County leaders say it is the start of a broader prevention effort built around research, education and direct tools for parents who want to talk with their children before summer schedules bring more unsupervised time, more social events and more chances for drinking to start.

Pamella Bello, Summit County Health director of prevention, is helping lead the effort. The campaign reflects a public-health approach, one that treats underage drinking as a countywide issue tied to safety, school performance, family stress and longer-term substance-use risk rather than as a problem to be addressed only after a crisis.

The message is supported by CDC research showing that prevention plays a key role in reducing underage drinking. That framing gives the campaign a clear purpose: reach parents, youth and other community members early, before risky behavior becomes harder to interrupt.

Organizers are also making the event visible by placing it at the Park City Ice Arena, a location many families know well. That choice signals that the issue is meant to be discussed in the community, not behind closed doors, and that prevention can be part of everyday family life rather than an afterthought.

The timing matters as much as the venue. By launching in late April, the county is trying to build momentum before May and the stretch into summer, when teenagers often have more freedom, more downtime and more opportunities for drinking at parties, gatherings and other social events. County leaders are betting that giving parents practical intervention points now can help change the way local families respond later.