Local Youth Plan Year’s Fight Against Big Tobacco
Youth leaders from Madison, Oneida, and Herkimer County convened at the White Eagle Conference Center for three days to share their concerns about tobacco use and tobacco marketing in their communities. They brainstormed creative ideas to educate their communities about the negative impact of tobacco.
Tobacco use is still the leading cause of preventable disease and death killing nearly 24,000 New Yorkers every year and afflicting nearly 600,000 New Yorkers with serious disease directly attributable to their smoking. Tobacco is not an equal opportunity killer – there has been no reduction in smoking rates among low income adults, adults with poor mental health, and those with less than a high school education.
Youth leaders are hoping that their work will strengthen community support for tobacco-free policies that help people quit and prevent youth from initiating tobacco use. Efforts encourage policies that promote smoke-free outdoors and smoke-free housing, and policies that reduce youth exposure to tobacco marketing. “It is a great experience to plan the things we will do this year to reduce tobacco marketing in our communities, I am so glad to be a part of this organization” says Riley Hysell an eighth grader from Madison Central School.
BRiDGES Tobacco Prevention Program includes a Community Engagement component and a Reality Check component. The Community Engagement Coordinator partners with businesses, agencies and individuals who strive to create a community environment that supports tobacco-free norms. These partnerships promote initiatives that reduce tobacco marketing, specifically in stores, reduce exposure to secondhand smoke and strengthen clean indoor air laws. Reality Check engages middle and high school aged youth in civic action aimed at de-glamorizing and de-normalizing tobacco use in communities by exposing the deceptive marketing tactics of the tobacco industry. Program initiatives include promoting positive role-modeling in the entertainment industry, especially in movies and on the Internet, and reducing exposure to tobacco marketing and display by tobacco retailers.