NABCA Awards
Michigan Liquor Control Commission
Michigan Assessing Underage Drinking in College Communities
Award Year
2019-2020
Supplemental Award $50,000
Focus Area Capacity Building | Collaboration
A 2015 MLive.com report showed about 40% of Michigan college students engage in binge drinking, above the national average of 35%. Excessive alcohol consumption by college students is a challenge across the country, and according to the National Institutes of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “Drinking at college has become a ritual that students often see as an integral part of their higher education experience.”
To address this public safety issue, the Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) used its supplemental award to assess high-risk drinking in four college communities (Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Grand Haven, and Mt. Pleasant).
The first phase of the project was conducted in partnership with the Responsible Retailing Forum. Beginning in Fall 2021, the project sought to implement the Michigan Alcohol Responsibility Program (MI ARP) to promote the responsible sale and service of alcoholic beverages in two of the four communities (Ann Arbor and East Lansing). MI ARP is an approach to alcohol responsibility that treats all retailers who sell or serve alcohol as part of one community-wide system, with the goal of achieving high compliance with alcohol sales laws. The project began with traditional off-premise outlets and later ended by assessing on-premise outlets. The aggregate findings from the assessments were shared with all retailers to help inform and educate them on best-practice strategies to prevent illegal sales to minors in the future.
The second, complementary phase of the project was conducted in partnership with the Prevention Network, a statewide prevention organization, which supported MLCC in building coalition capacity in the four sites and identified risk factors contributing to high-risk drinking occurring among college students in these communities. Illegal sale of alcohol to minors was a risk factor that emerged. While the state strategic plan to address underage drinking prioritized conducting alcohol compliance checks, several limitations were identified for why checks are not happening at the level needed. To foster a deeper conversation about this challenge, virtual community forums were conducted with a specific focus in two of the four communities (Ann Arbor and East Lansing).
Attendees who participated in the forums heard from a renowned researcher on alcohol compliance checks, Dr. Traci Toomey of the University of Minnesota, and Dr. Raimee Eck, a public health researcher with expertise in community forum facilitation, helped guide the conversation. What emerged were two primary issues related to compliance monitoring resources both at the local and state levels and the need to educate local law enforcement related to protocols for compliance checks in the state.