Several Bay Area cities will be getting a grant to reduce underage drinking, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control recently announced.

Dublin, Petaluma, San Jose, San Mateo, and San Pablo will get their share of a $3 million grant — up to $30,000 each — from the California Office of Traffic Safety. Lodi in San Joaquin County will also receive a grant. The money will provide education and enforcement programs such as minor decoy and so-called “shoulder tap” operations and other enforcement.

Minor decoy operations use young people under 20 in conjunction with law enforcement to enter places that sell alcohol to see if the employees will sell it to them. A “shoulder tap” operation is similar but uses minors to ask adults outside of places that sell alcohol to buy it for them. Businesses caught selling to minors receive increased penalties on their license to sell booze or they can have the license suspended. People caught buying alcohol for minors are arrested, ABC said.

The grants will run through September 2026.

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.