About Us
Prom Perfect is a collaborative effort of Beaverton Together!, Helping Empower Youth Together! (HEY!), Oregon Partnership, Tigard Turns the Tide and Washington County.
The PromPerfect campaign began when three Washington County (Oregon) alcohol and drug prevention coalitions got together to combine their efforts (funded and under the direction of Washington County Commission on Children and Families). The focus became Prom as it is considered a rite-of-passage and has a marked increase in alcohol and drug use throughout the season, but especially on that special night. It is well known that an increase in alcohol intake or drug abuse also heighten the chances of increase in risky behavior. The three coalitions wanted to find a way to collaborate their efforts and reach a broad audience in helping teens make the right choices when it came to Prom night.
PromPerfect was born of the idea that to make your prom perfect, it’s not just about who you’re going with, what your outfit looks like, or how much you spent on dinner, but that a perfect prom ends with you coming home safely and being able to remember that night forever.
After the initial work, and with a campaign ready to go, the three coalitions and the County approached Oregon Partnership to help with the media and outreach. Oregon Partnership is a state-wide alcohol and drug prevention organization who has worked close to 20 years to combat youth substance abuse. From this partnership, the four groups decided to expand the campaign to the greater Portland metro area and in the coming 2010-2011 school year hope to go statewide with the efforts.
The campaign begins with a lot of preparation in each community. Each organization gathers their coalition to discuss which high schools will be participating, getting prom dates and locations, and talking with the school districts to engage the prom committees in participating with promotional materials. The students place wallet sized cards encouraging them to be safe and have a drug and aclohol free Prom night inside the invitation/tickets that are sold, or stamp the invites with the same message. This way every kid attending Prom will have a reinforced message from the point of purchase.
Then the coalitions identify local area businesses that cater to prom-goers such as gown and tuxedo vendors, limousine companies, florists, etc. and set out to ask for their participation as PromPerfect Partners. This partnership implies that the businesses will have promotional materials in their store-fronts as well as with the merchandise they provide. PromPerfect messages, are featured on posters, window clings/decals, table tents, wallet-sized cards and clothes hangers.
Throughout the campaign, parents are given information on how to host parties that are alcohol and drug free, or are engaged in efforts to keep not only their own kids safe, but making sure their kids’ friends are also being safe. Parents are directed to the promperfect website for further information.
Then as prom approaches, the community; parents and families, councilors, teachers, churches and all others are encouraged to send a text message to a youth in their lives who is attending prom. These text messages let the youth know that people around them not only care about the choices that they make, but are encouraging them to make the right ones.
Oregon Partnership