Handsel Art

PRESS RELEASE

Date: 28 January 2008

For Immediate Release

Contact: J.R. Few at

(870) 427-1365 or email

TFMC Outreach Funded

Arkansas State Representative Monty Davenport congratulates Tobacco Free Marion County (TFMC) program coordinator Julie Andersen for a $16,050 grant award from the Arkansas Tobacco Settlement Commission for youth media outreach. Davenport and Andersen participated in the ceremonial check presentation by Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe in the Governor’s Conference Room in Little Rock January 28^th.

Programmatic changes at the Arkansas Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Branch left tobacco prevention curriculum unfunded in Marion County schools this year. In addition, recent data dubiously distinguishes Marion County with the highest rate in the state of smoking during pregnancy.

Says Davenport of this tobacco prevention funding, “That’s about a dollar a person in Marion County.”

Data from the Federal Trade Commission estimates that every household in Arkansas carries an annual $564 tax burden for tobacco related costs. Marion County’s grant was selected from over $2,500,000 in requests from only $500,000 in grant funds. TFMC is a committee of Marion County HomeTown Health.

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