Ending California’s Tobacco Epidemic in Every Community

Purpose

Fund up to 43 projects to accelerate momentum toward ending CA's tobacco epidemic through policy, system, and environmental change strategies by increasing community engagement within populations disproportionately targeted by the tobacco industry. Priority populations include the following populations: African American/Black; Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander; Latino; LGBTQ; and rural residents.

Description

This Request for Application seeks to fund up to 43 local projects with three or more years of demonstrated agency experience and capabilities in tobacco prevention. The purpose of this RFA is to accelerate momentum toward ending California's tobacco epidemic through policy, system, and environmental change strategies by increasing community engagement within populations that have been disproportionately targeted by the tobacco industry. Priority populations include the following population groups: African American/Black; Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander; Latino; and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning; and rural residents. For more than 30 years, the CA Department of Public Health, CA Tobacco Prevention Program has administered a comprehensive policy, system, and environmental change program. The Program changes social norms relating to tobacco use to make tobacco undesirable, unacceptable, and inaccessible. Building on decades of success, CDPH/CTPP has shifted its focus from "controlling" the industry-created tobacco epidemic, to ending it. CDPH/CTPP seeks to transform California by eradicating the tobacco industry's manipulative, predatory, and deadly influence to equitably increase the health, environmental, and economic well-being of California's diverse populations. Worldwide, the movement to end the tobacco epidemic is gaining momentum with several countries announcing intentions to work toward a tobacco endgame. California continues to lead the nation in adopting strong state and local policies that serve as incubators of innovation to protect Californians' health and prevent and reduce tobacco use. Despite these successes, smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in California, accounting for approximately 40,000 deaths annually. Many groups - including racial and ethnic groups, people experiencing low socioeconomic status, residents of rural areas, members of the LGBTQ+ community, personnel and military veterans, workers not covered by smokefree workplace laws, people with behavioral health conditions, people with disabilities, and youth of school-age continue to experience higher rates of tobacco use, secondhand smoke exposure, tobacco industry targeting, and/or tobacco-related disease. CDPH/CTPP recognizes that the time for incremental changes is over, and we are committed to transformational change to tackle the societal, economic, and environmental burden resulting from the industry's purposeful production of a highly addictive consumer product and the deceitful practices it uses to aggressively push its products on youth and other vulnerable communities.