Northwest Regional Tobacco Prevention and Education Program Grantees met recently at the O

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PRESS RELEASE

Date:20 October 2006

For Immediate Release

Contact: J.R. Few at

(870) 427-1365 or email

Coalitions Collaborate

Northwest Regional Tobacco Prevention and Education Program Grantees met recently at the O.U.R. Coop in Harrison to discuss effective strategies. From left are Michelle Lewis, Program Coordinator for North West Arkansas Tobacco Free Coalition; Julie Andersen, Program Coordinator for Tobacco-Free Marion County; and the Baxter County Tobacco Control Board Program Coordinator, Allen Hundley.

Lewis’ coalition was instrumental in Fayetteville’s 2004 successful campaign to become smoke free. Marion County’s adult tobacco use has dropped from the highest in the state in 2002 to 70^th in 2005. Baxter County has shown a decrease in illegal sales to minors from 12% to 2% in the past year. TPEP grantees’ work plans rely on Centers for Disease Control evidence based Best Practices.

“Few programs spend their funding as effectively as these tobacco prevention coalitions,” says Andrea Parton, prevention specialist and TFMC programmatic evaluator. “Arkansas spends less than one tenth on prevention than what the tobacco companies spend marketing in Arkansas. They have to work smart.”

These groups are funded by the voter mandated Act 1 of 2000 directing spending of Arkansas’ share of the Master Settlement Agreement towards health and prevention issues. The CDC currently ranks Arkansas 5^th for proper spending of MSA monies.

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