California Tobacco Endgame Center for Organizing and Engagement
On January 2, 2020 we announced that the California Department of Public Health, California Tobacco Control Program awarded the American Heart Association, the world’s leading nonprofit organization focused on heart and brain health, a $5.6 million, 56-month grant to establish the California Tobacco Endgame Center for Organizing and Engagement.
Through the new Tobacco Center for Organizing and Engagement, the American Heart Association will leverage its decades-long record of advocacy and policy success, and its expertise in community engagement and capacity-building, toward the goal of eliminating tobacco use statewide by 2035.
“We can bring an end to the era of tobacco-caused death and illness in California by organizing and engaging our communities to pass local policies that help end the health harms and needless deaths caused by tobacco and nicotine products,” said Laura King, Principal Investigator and Director of Public Health for the American Heart Association. “Although the use of combustible tobacco products continues to decline, Big Tobacco is working hard to addict a new generation through targeted marketing and products that appeal to children.”
Read our original press release for full details on the announcement.
The Mission of the California Tobacco Endgame Center for Organizing and Engagement:
The American Heart Association’s California Tobacco Endgame Center for Organizing and Engagement provides comprehensive training, technical assistance and resources to California’s large and growing tobacco control movement. The Tobacco Endgame Center will partner with local, regional and statewide tobacco control stakeholders to enhance their organizing and engagement capacity. The Tobacco Endgame Center will serve as a hub for resources and a dissemination channel for the information needs of diverse groups on community organizing, community engagement and stakeholder outreach.
The American Health Association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary health organization working in cardiovascular disease and stroke with a mission “to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.” The AHA advances clinical and public health strategies for cardiovascular disease and brain health and associated risk factors, with an emphasis on vulnerable populations and the promotion of healthier lives for all. The AHA has worked in California for decades providing life-saving services and supporting advocacy campaigns at the state and local levels to advance public policy to improve public health.
Please visit our website, organizingtoendtobacco.org, for more information and resources.
