PowerTalk 21 is coming. Are you ready?

Conversations with teens can save lives. Teen alcohol use kills 4,300 youths each year, which is more than all illegal drugs combined. Did you know, teens who don’t drink alcohol until they are 21 are 85% less likely to be involved in an alcohol related crash than those who drink before age 14?

Research shows that in families where there is good communications and boundaries set around alcohol and other drugs, kids are safer and are far less likely to break family rules like, no drinking under 21.

Every year on April 21, MADD, as part of the Power of Parents® program, encourages parents to have critical, potentially life-saving conversations with their teens about the dangers of underage drinking and other drugs. What better time than April? Not only are proms fast approaching and graduation on the horizon, but April also is Alcohol Awareness Month.

This year to help parents, MADD is releasing new and easy-to-use tools to help parents to have conversations about alcohol with their teens in the form of five new topical guides, thanks to the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA). These topical guides are bite-sized informational tools, each focused on a specific topic derived from the larger, more extensive and research based, Power of Parents Handbook. We encourage our supporters and partners to download and share the guides.

MADD and Nationwide join hands annually around PowerTalk21 to empower parents. April is an ideal time for these conversations to take place with so many events, like prom, graduation, spring and summer breaks and more, coming up where alcohol might be readily accessible to teens.

Throughout the month of April, MADD is determined to lend a hand to parents to them have these critical conversation with kids and teens about the dangers of drinking. For this, MADD will host a national press conference, which will be broadcasted via Facebook Live and workshops will be held in schools and communities throughout the country.

Education is the first line of defense in keeping teens from drinking and putting themselves and others in harm’s way. Parents know best how to relate to their children – and MADD wants to support them and ultimately helping keep youth safe.

Support MADD’s work through a well-designed corporate philanthropy program:

As MADD’s workplace giving partner, America’s Charities can help your company design and implement a program centered on supporting their work – through workplace giving campaigns, employee fundraising, cause-focused signature programs, volunteerism, Dollars-for-Doers, In-Kind Giving and other employee engagement and philanthropic initiatives. Click here to request a demo and learn how we can help you do this.