Community Vision Council, Cuyahoga County Tobacco Initiative receive grant from Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation

• Program targets neighborhoods, schools, workplaces in Cuyahoga County
• County Board of Health and Community Vision Council lead the partnership
• Award is highest among 28 grants announced by TUPCF

(Cleveland, Ohio) October 16, 2002
The Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation (TUPCF) has awarded a grant of $850,000 to the Cuyahoga County Comprehensive Partnership for Tobacco Reduction, a partnership of the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, the Community Vision Council collaborating with more than 30 health organizations throughout the county.

The grant will help fund a community and neighborhood-based initiative to prevent and reduce tobacco use among Cuyahoga County's teenagers and adults. Programs to promote healthful living without tobacco will focus on peer and parental involvement in neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. These programs are among the most effective smoking prevention and cessation programs known in the health community.

The award is the largest of 28 grants, totaling nearly $7 million, issued by TUPCF to community-based tobacco prevention programs throughout the state. The grants were announced October 4.

The Community Vision Council is a 27-member committee of leaders in the business community and government. The council has identified four health and human services priorities for Greater Cleveland: reduce and prevent tobacco use; enhance the quality of childcare; increase access to information about senior services; and coordinate training and support services for displaced workers. Originally convened by United Way Services, the now independent, broad-based team, which has been at work for more than two years, includes more than 160 volunteer leaders, primarily staffed by United Way with support from the Federation for Community Planning.

"Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in Cuyahoga County and a factor in both cancer and heart disease," said Deborah Zider Read, Thompson Hine partner and co-chair of Health and Caring for All, the Community Vision Council's tobacco prevention initiative. "The partnership's program funded in part by the the TUPCF grant focuses on reducing tobacco use to promote a healthier lifestyle among young people."."

"This award is a huge step forward in addressing a major public health issue in Cuyahoga County," said Timothy Horgan, Health Commissioner of the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. Studies show that Cleveland ranks third among U.S. cities in the number of adults who smoke and that Ohio has the fourth-highest teen smoking rate in the nation.

"In addition to preventing smoking among teenagers, we also need to help our adult population stop their use of tobacco products," said J. Thomas Mullen, President and CEO of Catholic Charities Services Corporation and co-chair of Health and Caring for All. "This is not only for their own health, but also because they set an example for our young people."

In its initial year, the program will target its efforts on the Clark Fulton, West Boulevard, Mount Pleasant and Lee Miles neighborhoods, as well as Lakewood and Warrensville Heights. Selection of these areas was based on data about the smoking rates among youth, willingness of school districts to participate, current or existing efforts that the program could build on and community interest. The program will be expanded on a community-by-community basis over the next five years.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Health was selected as the lead agency in this effort by the Community Vision Council and a coalition of organizations in Greater Cleveland that is working together to prevent tobacco use. This collaboration of a number of groups within the county was a key factor in the successful application for the TUPCF grant.