UNCW Receives Grant to Reduce Tobacco Use Among Young Adults in NC
2/9/2006 3:57:23 PM
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Wilmington, N.C. - The North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund (HWTF) announced today an award of a $75,243 tobacco use prevention and cessation grant to University of North Carolina Wilmington. This grant is part of the first state-funded effort to prevent and reduce tobacco use among college-age youth throughout the state.
UNCW's project, Fresh Air, is a joint collaboration between CROSSROADS, UNCW's Substance Abuse Prevention & Education Program, and Health Promotion Services. It will focus on tobacco policy initiatives and increasing successful quit attempts among UNCW students for spit tobacco and smoking.
Rebecca Caldwell, director of CROSSROADS, said, "This is an exciting project for us. Students often feel that their social smoking will not lead to addiction or that they can easily quit after graduation, when, in fact, they are dealing with the most addictive substance on earth- nicotine."
A Campus Tobacco Coalition of students, faculty, and staff will advocate for tobacco policy changes for the campus that reduce exposure to secondhand smoke. "There has been a lot of student interest in the coalition activities," said Caldwell. "I know that a committed group of students, with the support of faculty and staff, can make a huge difference in the health of this campus."
Under Caldwell's leadership, CROSSROADS has developed as a comprehensive substance abuse prevention program in a higher education setting. In fall 2004, the program received the National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week award from the Inter-Association Task Force for excellence in year-round alcohol prevention programming. In summer 2005, CROSSROADS began a two-year project entitled "Changing a High-Risk Drinking Culture through the Lens of Gender," which was the top project in a national grant competition funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The program's long-standing commitment to partner with communities on prevention for high school students has received over one million dollars in state and federal funds.
As part of this initiative by HWTF, a total of $1.6 million was awarded over two years to 20 colleges, community colleges, health departments and organizations across the state. Each grant recipient will work to establish smoke free policies on NC campuses and to promote the new, HWTF-funded NC Tobacco Use Quitline (1.800.QUIT.NOW) to 18-24 year olds.
Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of preventable death not only in the United States, but in NC. Despite this fact, according to CDC, almost 28% of college age youth in the state smoke.
ABOUT THE NC HEALTH AND WELLNESS TRUST FUND
The NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund makes North Carolina stronger, both physically and economically, by funding programs that promote preventive health. Created by the General Assembly in 2000 to allocate a portion of North Carolina's share of the national tobacco settlement, HWTF has invested $127 million to support preventive health initiatives and $78 million to fund a prescription drug assistance program. For more information, please visit www.HealthWellNC.com.
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For more information about this project, quitting tobacco use, or joining the Coalition, please contact Rebecca Caldwell at 910.962.4136 or caldwellr@uncw.edu.
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