“Turning the Tide on Underage Drinking and Drug Use” is the title of a community meeting at 7 p.m., May 4, in the Mercer Island High School Commons.

The event, featuring speaker Nancy Lee, Mercer Island resident, author, social marketing expert and president of Social Marketing Services, Inc., will cover the facts and some solutions to the pervasive problem of underage drinking and drug use. The meeting will start with a general session on scientific approaches to prevention. Lee will address Mercer Island Communities that Care’s (CTC) prevention efforts, including the Island’s current “prevention portfolio.” She will outline the way forward using social norms marketing, an innovative, science-based method of health promotion with a track record of changing perceptions, attitudes and behaviors.

A launch of the CTC social norms media campaign is included. The group will then hold a round table discussion on “conversations that count” and “turning information into communitywide action.”

The focus will be on discussing possibilities for involvement among key community “sectors” that, taken together, will build the momentum needed to achieve meaningful reduction in underage drinking and substance abuse.

Sessions will be facilitated by CTC members and community leaders.

During the program’s closing session, participants will leave with a “clear vision and concrete ideas about actions they can take to make prevention a community effort on Mercer Island.”

Space is limited for this event, so Islanders are asked to RSVP by calling 275-7749.