RAMA – Responsible Alcohol Merchant Awards  This environmental prevention project promotes responsible alcohol sales by merchants to reduce youth access to alcohol.

WHY do RAMA?  Directly addresses one of the main venues youth report receiving alcohol from (fake Ids, shoulder tapping, stealing, lack of identifying procedures)  Positive, pro-active way to effect change in the community at large  It is easy to scale this project to be a good fit for your program (you choose WHEN to do it and how MANY participants you want to take on)

Skills that Individuals and the Chapter Develop & Use  Public Speaking  Office Skills  Awareness of Laws, Regulations, Procedures & Policies  Assessment  Analysis  Writing

Ways We Have Modified RAMA over the Years  We now have 2 tracks for Winners (Honorable & Exemplary)  We strategically use RAMA to suggest and reward merchants to make specific changes in their stores, i.e. Merchant Committed

Partnerships that have come out of RAMA  Jovenos Sanos (Healthy Market Make Over group in Watsonville)  Store Make Over

CRITICAL PIECES  You need a reliable way to check the records of merchants you will be working with… - ABC - Local Law Enforcement Before you begin inviting merchants to participate, get law enforcement &/ or your local ABC rep on board. Tell them about the program and that you need them to verify merchants records at the end of your interviews… you want to make sure you are rewarding the right businesses!  Determine the BENEFIT to the merchants before you approach them (elevator pitch)  This project REQUIRES ORGANIZATION to be successful!

Sure, it sounds interesting but it’s gotta be A LOT of work…  Check out the FNL Road Map, the appendix has an entire section of RAMA Materials ready for you to use!  The RAMA section includes: - Sample Work Plan/ Time Line - Youth Training Materials - Script for talking to Merchants - RAMA Interview - RAMA Rubric - ABC Requirements - RAMA Winners Letter Call for more info or help!