Underage drinkers may have a new worry in DeKalb.

The Ben Gordon Center is combating underage drinking with the help of a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OFJJDP).

On Dec. 11 and 12, DeKalb County Partnership for a Safe, Active and Family Environment (DCP SAFE), in conjunction with the Ben Gordon Center, will conduct training sessions in the areas of compliance checks on liquor licenses, checking identification and getting community support.

“We’re trying to work with vendors in collaborative efforts,” said Mary Margaret Callaghan, prevention specialist with Ben Gordon and a member of DCP SAFE.

The grant will help in merchant education and providing training for liquor establishment employees, Callaghan said. The funding also would cover overtime costs for police officers making compliance and ID checks.

Both the DeKalb and Sycamore police departments have a linkage agreement and provide statistics on underage drinking to the Ben Gordon Center.

Lt. Carl Leoni of the DeKalb Police Department said they are having training for party prevention, retail compliance checks and zero tolerance laws in support of combating underage drinking.

The Peaceful Institution for Research and Education (PIRE) will send trainers to the December training sessions.

Anthony Ramirez, program manager for PIRE, said the grant money is from a larger funding project from the OFJJDP that is divided among all 50 states.

The State of Illinois Department of Human Services then disperses the money among all of the counties.

“DeKalb County was identified as a county that did good work,” Ramirez said about DeKalb County efforts to combat underage drinking.