The Challenge

Underage drinking is the primary focus of coalitions around the state. North Smithfield needed leadership and direction to help reach students who may be at risk for engaging in underage drinking. But the coalition had one of the smallest budgets in the state and needed to develop outreach initiatives that were cost effective and could produce real results for the coalition.

The Results

MBA for a Day worked with North Smithfield just over a few months this year thus far to develop a face book page, a strategy for attracting fans to the page and a strategy to entice students to attend a meeting on the dangers of underage drinking. We also developed a new logo, email marketing strategy and communications / public relations strategy for reaching members of the community on a more regular basis. We've written a number of press releases that have all been published in local newspapers; we've updated the website and given it a fresh look although some of the content is still under development; we've developed an email marketing design for continuity and we've developed outreach programs to reach a wider audience.

Some of our Statistics

North Smithfield is one of only 2 coalitions in the state that has a Face Book page. North Smithfield's facebook page has 350 fans, mostly kids from North Smithfield in the demographic age of 13 and older. (North Smithfield is a relatively small community - the North Smithfield High School face book page has only 400 fans). More than 50% of the fans on facebook are between the ages of 13-24. Weeks and days before the Junior prom, and the day of the junior prom, face book posts were updated to reinforce the task force specific message and every fan received the message on their computer or cell phone.

More than 150 people, mostly middle and high school kids, attended the North Smithfield Town Hall Meeting on the Dangers of Underage Drinking which was held on a Monday night, March 22, 2010 at the North Smithfield Middle School. The Town Hall meeting had a forum of speakers: leaders from the community, including police, EMT's, school teachers and administrators, politicians, MADD representatives and even a offender who is a college student. North Smithfield had members of the press at the event. It made front page news of the Woonsocket Call.