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PdN tobacco Control Network shares success at CADCA's Forum in DC

February 9, 2015

Representatives from Paso del Norte Tobacco Control Network (Network) were in Washington, D.C. to join more than 2,500 substance abuse prevention specialists and advocates throughout the country for the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America’s (CADCA) 25th Annual National Leadership Forum.

CADCA’s National Leadership Forum is the premier and largest training event for community-based substance abuse prevention professionals, coalition leaders and prevention and addiction researchers. The Forum is a four-day event packed with opportunities to learn the latest strategies to fight substance abuse and hear from nationally-known prevention experts, federal administrators and concerned policymakers.

Dr. Theodore V. Cooper, Principal Investigator from the University of Texas at El Paso and Jana Renner, Associate Program Officer from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation attended the event. Dr. Cooper served on a panel to share the success on how the Network came together to create social change to enhance the community’s health by creating tobacco-free environments.

The Network recently impacted the community by working in support of the El Paso Clean Air Coalition’s efforts to enhance the city’s previous policy the Public and Workplace Smoking Restriction Ordinance. The Network leadership was also strategically involved in the University of Texas at El Paso’s Tobacco-Free Campus policy providing research and policy support. Key stakeholders in the Network also co-sponsored a workshop on multi-unit housing non-smoking ordinances to coincide with efforts at the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso to go smoke-free.

The Paso del Norte Tobacco Control Network is a component of the comprehensive and coordinated approach of A Smoke Free Paso del Norte Initiative of the Paso del Norte Health Foundation. The Network provides a common ground, in which there is an exchange of ideas, training, and technical assistance to organizations and agencies throughout the region with a goal of tobacco prevention and cessation. The goal of the Network is to reduce the prevalence of smoking and tobacco use in the region.

For more information, contact Nora Hernandez at 915-747-5071 or norag@utep.edu.