NABCA Awards
Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services
Award Year
2022-2023
Supplemental Award $49,608
Education Award $10,000
Focus Area Education | Awareness, Regulatory | Enforcement, Capacity Building | Collaboration
Annual Resource Calendars
Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services (ABS) used NABCA funds to produce and publish 1,300 resource calendars to distribute to existing and new license holders. These calendars feature monthly descriptions of relevant alcohol rules and regulations, reminders for best compliance practices, as well as a daily born-on date detachable card to help sellers verify age purchasing requirements. These calendars help remind staff and servers of their roles and responsibilities, as well as help communicate new policies to ensure compliance.
Holiday Coaster Campaign
Nationally, drunk-driving-related crashes spike during the holiday season, particularly the day before Thanksgiving. “Blackout Wednesday” (also known as “Drinksgiving”) refers to binge drinking on the night before the Thanksgiving holiday. ABS launched a Holiday Coaster Campaign to provide an easily accessible list of alternative rides to patrons and deter them from driving after they had been drinking. ABS partnered with local businesses to distribute beverage coasters that featured a QR code, directing patrons to an online list of alternative rides to get home safely after drinking. With NABCA's funding, ABS designed and printed 20,000 coasters that will be distributed free of charge to license holders in Montgomery County. Through this campaign, ABS raised awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving and provided an easily accessible list of alternative rides to consumers.
NLLEA and MALA Conferences
ABS assembled a team of representatives to attend the National Liquor Law Enforcement Association and the Maryland Alcohol Licensing Association annual conferences, thanks to a NABCA grant.
Through these conferences, the attendees learned about innovations in alcohol policy, regulation, safety, and security. The representatives also had the opportunity to network with leaders, practitioners and experts and learn about their best practices. ABS expects that by providing these training opportunities, staff will feel empowered to implement some of these new policies and responsible alcohol practices at ABS.
"I Take if Personally" Media Campaign
ABS used a NABCA award to launch an ad campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of alcohol access and consumption for people under the age of 21. ABS placed public service advertisements on bus shelters and bus taillights to deter under-21 alcohol use and reduce adolescent access to alcohol. The ad campaign targeted high school students as well as parents and caregivers. The bus shelter ads were placed near high schools and featured the phrase “under 21 drinking can lead to alcohol addiction.” The bus taillight ads featured the phrase “60% of kids who drink get their alcohol from family and friends.”
Ads ran for six weeks and included a QR code that could be scanned for more information on reducing under-21 alcohol use and access as well as other prevention resources.
License Approval Signing Day Swag Bags
About 20% of new businesses fail within two years of being open—so, to help new license holders thrive in Montgomery County, Maryland, ABS used part of a NABCA Education
award to purchase promotional items for “swag bags” for new license holders. The bags, which are provided during the final or first quarterly inspections, promoted compliance and responsible service
practices. Items such as the calendar and ID Guide provided important information that these new businesses will need to remain in compliance. Swag bag items featuring ABS’ contact information helps license holders maintain compliance by encouraging them to contact ABS with questions and requests for assistance.
DWI Courts
The NABCA Award issued to the Montgomery County Department of Police helped to fund a four-day training program in an effort to lay the foundation of a fully functional DWI Court in
Montgomery County, Maryland. DWI Courts set up a multi-pronged judiciary program that address all aspects of the crime of driving under the influence. These courts also closely examine the offender's substance use disorder and potential underlying mental health issue(s) that contribute to this serious crime. They rely on a team approach to determine how to best assist the chronic offender in an effort to help with remediation and treatment. A Montgomery County team attended a training led by court subject matter experts. These experts assisted with enhancing understanding of each team member's role, identified best practices for courts of this nature, and helped members formulate a realistic timeline for full court implementation.
Customer Engagement Analysis and Outreach
ABS recognizes that the hospitality industry has been disrupted by the 2020 pandemic and continues to struggle with supply chain disruptions, a labor shortage, inflation, and changed customer expectations for dining and entertainment. Because of this, ABS undertook a customer engagement analysis and outreach program, which included one-on-one conversations with 125 license holders and facility managers.
Notably, many license holders responded that the personal visit was a big and important step in bolstering communications, even when they did not have particular concerns to report. The in-person visits helped to identify and update alcohol policy, trainings, and resources for licensees and their staff, and they confirmed that many of ABS’s health, safety, and compliance programs are working.
ABS has found this pilot program to be extremely useful for building relationships with license holders and plans to expand it into its routine operations