Policy Advocacy Strategies: Mobilizing Adults and Youth as Advocates

Audience: Tobacco control professionals, coalition members, and youth working on effective tobacco control policies

Key Points: In order to make the largest impact and create sustainable change, community efforts must focus on population based strategies that mobilize communities to work on effective tobacco control policies.  Presentation focuses on how we mobilized our coalition members, community partners and SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco) youth members to collaborate on passing tobacco control policies that impact people where they live, work, learn and play.  Panel presentations will highlight the following key points:

• Reasons to involve adults and youth as advocates;
• Roles of adults and youth in advocating for effective tobacco control policies;
• Strategies to mobilize adults and youth;
• Challenges and successes; and
• Lessons learned.

Educational Experience: The panel presentation highlights mobilization strategies that generated successes around tobacco free and smokefree local ordinances in city owned parks and recreation areas, and “24/7” tobacco free school policies in Oklahoma.  Action plans, media, and resource books we used will be shared and will be made available to the audience. 

Benefits: Tobacco control policies create a huge impact when addressing tobacco use only if these policies are embraced, maintained and enforced by the people that are impacted by them.  Adults and youth have a critical role to play when advocating for these policies, and it is imperative to engage them in the process.  This panel presentation provides proven strategies on mobilizing both adults and youth to make their community healthier.