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Grant awarded on Kick Butts Day in partnership with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids "Making the Next Generation Tobacco-Free" grant program
[Philadelphia, PA] – March 18, 2015 – The Health Promotion Council of Southeastern PA, an affiliate of Public Health Management Corporation, today announced that it is one of the first four grant recipients of the "Making the Next Generation Tobacco-Free" grant program – a five-year, $5 million commitment of the CVS Health Foundation, a private foundation created by CVS Health, to Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
The $75,000 grant has been awarded to the Health Promotion Council of Southeastern PA as part of the CVS Health Foundation's commitment to helping people lead tobacco-free lives and to making the next generation tobacco-free. The "Making the Next Generation Tobacco-Free" grant will help the Health Promotion Council of Southeastern PA expand its Advocacy Institute (AI), which provides training for youth-led public health advocacy. The expansion will bring the AI into additional counties in southeastern Pennsylvania, increase membership in the AI Alumni Network and allow the council to host a Youth Leadership Summit that will train additional youth on tobacco prevention and control.
This announcement coincides with Kick Butts Day, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids' day of activism that empowers youth to stand out, speak up and mobilize their communities. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is a leading force in the fight to reduce tobacco use and its deadly toll in the United States and around the world.
"We are honored to receive one of the first 'Making the Next Generation Tobacco-Free' grants from the CVS Health Foundation to help us end youth tobacco use," said Jamie Magee, Director Tobacco Control Services, Health Promotion Council of Southeastern PA. "Currently, 18.4 percent of high school students in Pennsylvania smoke and an additional 11,800 kids under the age of 18 become daily smokers each year. Through the support we are receiving from the CVS Health Foundation, we will help reduce the number of youth who smoke and continue to raise youth tobacco awareness, prevention and advocacy in our local communities through programs like our Advocacy Institute."
"We're excited to celebrate Kick Butts Day by showing our commitment to helping young people in our local communities lead tobacco-free lives through our partnership with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids," said Eileen Howard Boone, President of the CVS Health Foundation. "We're so proud to support the dedicated work of our grantees, including the Health Promotion Council of Southeastern PA, who share our goal to educate young people about the dangers of tobacco in the hopes of making the next generation tobacco-free."
About Health Promotion Council of Southeastern PA
Health Promotion Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Inc., an affiliate of Public Health Management Corporation, is a nonprofit corporation founded in 1981 to implement community-based hypertension education and control programs. Known then as Southeastern Pennsylvania High Blood Pressure Control Program and funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, it was as part of a national hypertension control effort organized by the National Heart Blood and Lung Institute (NHLBI). When NHLBI disease control efforts broadened to include cholesterol and tobacco control, HPC took on these additional disease prevention concerns and changed its name accordingly. For more information, please visit http://www.hpcpa.org/about.
About CVS Health
CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) is a pharmacy innovation company helping people on their path to better health. Through our 7,800 retail pharmacies, more than 900 walk-in medical clinics, a leading pharmacy benefits manager with nearly 65 million plan members, and expanding specialty pharmacy services, we enable people, businesses and communities to manage health in more affordable, effective ways. This unique integrated model increases access to quality care, delivers better health outcomes and lowers overall health care costs. Find more information about how CVS Health is shaping the future of health at www.cvshealth.com.
About the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is a leading force in the fight to reduce tobacco use and its deadly toll in the United States and around the world. Our vision: A future free of the death and disease caused by tobacco. We work to save lives by advocating for public policies that prevent kids from smoking, help smokers quit and protect everyone from secondhand smoke.
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