Program Goal:  The goal of the Class Action program is to change student, parent and community norms and expectations about adolescent alcohol use. 

This model was developed over a ten year period at the University of Minnesota through research into alcohol prevention studies and other studies related to the health and safety of youth (including cigarette use, drug use, unhealthy eating patterns and sedentary behavior). 

Project Northland Overview:  Class Action is the high school component of Project Northland. Project Northland is a series of prevention program for students with a focus on underage drinking that begins in sixth grade and continues on until high school graduation.  It includes other interventions and curriculum that are used throughout the years.  Class Action and Project Northland prevention programs focus on alcohol because it is the most widely used drug among teens in the United States.  Ten plus years of research has gone into the development of Project Northland and its curriculum, including the Class Action Program. 

Class Action is an eight to ten session classroom based program for high school students.  Students are given the opportunity to debate the legal aspects of alcohol related cases involving teens.  In Class Action, underage drinking is presented as a community wide problem, emphasizing the focus on the social and legal aspects of the problems rather than the usual sole focus of individual responsibility. 
The Class Action program has been delivered by BRiDGES staff to students in 9th-12th grade in one Madison County School District since 2010. The program will be implemented again in 2011.
During Class Action, the classroom is divided into six legal teams who learn hypothetical civil cases.  The cases involve personal injury which occurs as a result of underage alcohol use.  

Case 1: Drinking and Driving
Case 2: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Case 3: Drinking and Violence
Case 4: Date Rape
Case 5: Drinking and Vandalism
Case 6: School Alcohol Policies

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Program Objectives:

1. Students will become aware of the legal issues surrounding underage alcohol use.

2. Students will recognize underage alcohol use as a community wide problem.

3. Students will discuss and debate the legal intricacies of alcohol related issues.

4. Students will learn about the social, emotional, economic and legal consequences of underage alcohol use.

5. Student’s norms concerning underage alcohol use will shift in a positive direction.