News

Foundation awards new grants for a Smoke Free Community

June 20, 2016

The Paso del Norte Health Foundation recently awarded five grants totaling more than $666 thousand under the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Priority Area – A Smoke Free Paso del Norte initiative.

The purpose of A Smoke Free Paso del Norte initiative is to promote health and prevent disease in the Paso del Norte region by reducing smoking. Top priorities include preventing the initiation of smoking in youth, making cessation programs widely available, and promoting smoke-free environments. Program partners work on a range of prevention strategies including advocating for smoke and tobacco-free organizational and municipal policies, monitoring the sales of tobacco products to minors, and educating youth about the risks of smoking.

Newly funded organizations are:

City of El Paso, Department of Public Health - $126,370.00
Tobacco Exposed
To lead Tobacco Exposed lessons to a minimum of 2,500 youth in non-school settings; provide tobacco prevention in-service to 200 college students or health teachers; engage four school districts in expanding tobacco prevention messaging or education in their schools; conduct 150 compliance checks of tobacco retailers, and provide at least four cessation classes to community groups in El Paso, Texas..

El Paso Independent School District - $181,953.00
Teens Against Tobacco Use: A Tobacco Prevention Curriculum and Advocacy Initiative
To implement three youth coalitions as an after-school activity; train youth to deliver peer-to-peer Teens Against Tobacco Use lessons to their younger peers and to advocate for tobacco control policies, and evaluate the efficacy of the program in El Paso, Texas.

Families and Youth, Inc. - $138,130.01
A Smoke Free Doña Ana County
To provide cessation classes and resources to at least 32 youth and adults; 200 brief interventions to pregnant women and behavioral health clients; train providers to conduct brief interventions; train two youth coalitions to advocate for tobacco free environments and conduct 20 compliance checks in Doña Ana County, New Mexico.

Housing Authority of the City of El Paso - $110,425.92
Our Homes, Our Health v2: Expanding Smoke-Free Policies in Multi-Unit Housing
To advocate for the adoption of smoke-free policies in Section 8 New Construction and Housing Acquisition Corporation properties; develop a smoke-free policy implementation and evaluation toolkit for property managers, and assess the demand for smoke-free housing in El Paso, Texas.

The Regents of New Mexico State University - $109,529.00
Empowering Promotoras to be Community-Based Tobacco Control Specialist
To recruit, train, and supervise community health workers from underserved communities in brief interventions; refer 120 smokers to New Mexico cessation resources and educate 300 individuals about the negative effects of tobacco use and tobacco-related marketing in Doña Ana, Otero, and Luna Counties, New Mexico.

For more information on these grants, call Jana Renner at 915-544-7636 or jrenner@pdnhf.org.