Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services

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WHY DOES PUBLIC HEALTH HAVE A TOBACCO EDUCATION PROGRAM?

In 1988, California voters passed Proposition 99, a tax on tobacco that established a comprehensive statewide tobacco education, prevention, and cessation program. Proposition 99 designated public health departments as "local lead agencies" for tobacco control. As a result, Humboldt County Public Health established the Tobacco Education Program (TEP) in 1990. In 2004, the program formally became the "Tobacco-Free Humboldt" program.

WHAT DOES THE PROGRAM DO?

Tobacco-Free Humboldt's responsibilities include: convening a local coalition that includes interested citizens, organizations with tobacco control expertise, and representatives of high-risk populations; providing technical assistance to tobacco control service providers; providing or contracting for tobacco control activities; establishing a data collection system; and developing a local 3-year plan and budget.

The 2004-2007 Plan activities include:

Working with local family resource centers to increase tobacco cessation services and referrals for Humboldt County residents;
Working with youth and the community to stop the illegal sales of tobacco to people under 18;
Partnering with the Humboldt Crabs Minor League Baseball Team to reduce tobacco industry influence in the community by supporting anti-tobacco policies and participating in education activities; and
Working with local venues where public events are held, on secondhand smoke prevention policies and education activities.

New activities are under development for the 2007-2010 scope of work and include:

Countering pro-tobacco influences that encourage youth smoking by working with community based organizations to promote responsible depiction of smoking in the media and movies and to eliminate deceptive tobacco advertising.
Reducing public exposure to cancer-causing second hand tobacco smoke both indoors and outdoors by educating the public and working with the Tobacco Education Network Coalition in Humboldt County to promote appropriate community-level public health policy.
Preventing illegal tobacco sales by working with local merchants, state-wide enforcement agencies, young people and the general public to encourage responsible tobacco sales at the retail level and documenting compliance with existing retail tobacco sales regulations.
Increasing the power of local efforts to reduce the harms caused by tobacco use by expanding the membership diversity of the Tobacco Education Network Coalition in Humboldt County.

WHO ELSE DOES THE PROGRAM WORK WITH?

Other agencies in the community with tobacco control funding and/or tobacco use prevention as a part of their agency's mission are:

Public schools,
United Indian Health Services,
Northern California Indian Development Council, and
The American Cancer Society
Other counties throughout California's network of tobacco-control programs

HOW CAN PEOPLE GET INVOLVED?

Volunteers are needed to work on the Tobacco Education Network Community Coalition, which meets monthly, and for other tobacco control activities.

Contact:
Tobacco-Free Humboldt
Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services
Public Health Branch
(707) 268-2132

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