QUESTION WHY

Underage Tobacco Sale Laws Toolkit

aidiloc — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:46:22 +0000

The resources below have a few pieces that are also in Spanish to help communicate to your local community about the laws around selling tobacco to minors. Reducing sales at the point of purchase is an effective way to shut down the flow of tobacco to minors. Check out the files below!

-Operation Storefront Explanation (Spanish)

-Emerging Tobacco Products Brochure

-Emerging Tobacco Products Powerpoint

-Three Merchant Education Laws

-Three Merchant Education Laws (Spanish)

-Merchant Education Checklist

Funding Announcement for Question Why!

aidiloc — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:56:51 +0000

On December 11, 2008, Question Why was pleased to receive a letter from then Governor-Elect Perdue announcing funding from the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund.

Question Why will receive funding to continue providing TRU trainings and technical assistance for the Teen Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Initiative. This funding begins July 1, 2009 and will continue for a 3-year phase. Question Why is working with the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund on what resources and activities will be provided in the following years.

We look forward to an exciting and action-packed TRU agenda and helping to decrease teen tobacco use by promoting youth empowerment!!

Question Why Wins Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids Award

aidiloc — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:42:33 +0000

Newly Approved TFS Compliance Resources

aidiloc — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:17:39 +0000

After months of working with the Health and Wellness Trust Fund and the NC Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch, Question Why has created some resources to help us improve the compliance of the 100% Tobacco Free Schools policy. Download these items for use in your community today!

If you need more assistance with improving awareness and compliance of TFS in your county, you can also contact us for training. Our adult and youth staff are more than happy to provide technical assistance and training.

TFS Brochure

TFS Surveillance Tools

Conversation for Cessation

Emerging Products Brochure

aidiloc — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:46:42 +0000

The tobacco industry is always coming up with new products to put out on the market. These are very different from the forms of tobacco products we’ve seen. It’s not just cigarettes and spit anymore. To help teen tobacco prevention coordinators in the TRU movement stay informed of the latest product development, we’ve developed a brochure with a summary of information on a few emerging tobacco products.

EMERGING TOBACCO PRODUCTS BROCHURE

Price and Initiation Resources Ready for 2009!

aidiloc — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:41:53 +0000

Grantees with action plans that ask you to increase awareness about the connection between the price of tobacco products and initiation/consumption of them can use the following resources for their youth groups.

Feel free to contact your Question Why Center if you need more guidance on how to use these resources.

5 TRU Phrases and Facts on Price and Initiation

Role Play Scenarios on Price and Initiation

Are You Smarter Than a TRU Teen? Game

Smarter Than Game Instructions

Letter to Editor by ?Y Youth Published

aidiloc — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:06:44 +0000

Going tobacco-free is a worthy gift to give

Summer Faith Griffin, Asheville • published December 17, 2008 12:15 am
Asheville Citizen-Times

The holidays are here and you can feel the anticipation in the air. It is winter and it truly is the perfect time of the year. Throughout all the joy and excitement the holidays bring, we can make the season even more enjoyable by staying tobacco-free. With more than 1,200 Americans dying every day because of tobacco use, being tobacco-free is truly the best gift you can give your loved ones as well as yourself. With so many deaths being attributed to tobacco (440,000 Americans every year) it scares me to notice that although it is a small number, some of my peers at Asheville High School are tobacco users.

The holidays are a time to be with those close to you and to build community, but with health effects ranging from emphysema to death, tobacco can split apart families and disrupt any kind of holiday cheer. I encourage the people of WNC to not only remain tobacco-free themselves, but to encourage their loved ones to do the same. Keep your holidays healthy and call 1-800-Quitnow for quitting assistance.

Summer Faith Griffin, Asheville

Read About Community Change Chronicles for CHES Credit

aidiloc — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:12:15 +0000

Health educators can receive CHES credit from the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) by reading an article about our Question Why program and the Community Change Chronicles in the January, 2009 issue of Health Promotion Practice. We hope this article will highlight for a greater audience of public health educators a way of documenting the process and impact of youth-led community work on tobacco prevention.

The test questions to receive credit can be accessed at http://www.sophe.org/content/ce_self_study_hpp.asp.

The actual Community Change Chronicles were written over the years of Question Why doing grassroots organizing around tobacco prevention with youth. For public health educators interested in doing this work from a youth empowerment perspective, our youth empowerment model is well demonstrated in each of the chronicles and also discusses all the great advocacy work done by our youth.

Check out the Community Change Chronicles in our Resources section.

QY Adult Staff present at “Celebrating A “TRU” Success!” conference

terryquinn — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:23:01 +0000

During a statewide conference for NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund Teen Tobacco Use Prevention grantees, QY staff presented a session titled “Working with Youth.” The meeting took place in Greensboro NC on October 15th and 16th. One activity shared during QY’s session was the “Ball Activiy” described below.

Gain or regain the attention in a room quickly and easily with the simple use of one ball. At the beginning of a meeting, teach the participants the “Ball Game.” Hold the ball in one hand and throw it up in the air. When the ball is in the air, all of the participants should make noise (yell, clap, whistle, etc.). When the ball is caught in the hand of the facilitator, they must be quiet. Throw the ball to different heights to test their ability. When you finish you’ll have the ball in your hand and everyone will be quiet! Keep the ball handy and continue using the “Ball Game” throughout the meeting whenever you need everyone to regroup and quiet down. It’s fun and effective!

Also, if you are looking for useful tips and strategies to recruit an active, successful group of youth to work in teen tobacco use prevention, check out the Retention and Recruitment Toolkit on this website by clicking the RESOUCES link to your right and looking under the ADULT heading.

LeAra McKinney is honored with the Rising Youth Star Award

kbs0202 — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:36:47 +0000

LeAra McKinney, Charlotte Area Youth Leader

LeAra McKinney was honored with the Rising Youth Star Award from Substance Abuse and Prevention Services of the Carolinas in Charlotte, NC, on October 17, 2008. LeAra McKinney, a Youth Empowered Solutions staff member, has been a part of the Question Why program for 3 consecutive years, working diligently on teen tobacco prevention and cessation in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina. In that time, LeAra has emerged as a leader of this program that provides training and technical assistance to those working in tobacco prevention across the state. In her Youth Leader position, LeAra creates and leads trainings that teach other youth about the dangers of tobacco, as well as media literacy, advocacy, and merchant education. LeAra has led workshops at both the 2006 statewide youth summit “Play to Win, Play to Live” held in Raleigh, and the 2008 Charlotte-area female empowerment and advocacy event “TRU Beauty.” She has worked locally with the Tobacco Reality Unfiltered community group to host events for the annual Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids event Kick Butts Day. LeAra’s current initiative is working with the Health Department and the Smoke Free Mecklenburg Coalition to advocate to the Charlotte Area Transit System to adopt a 100% Tobacco Free Policy for the uptown transit hub.