Washington, DC – The DC Department of Health (DOH) has awarded grants to eight community based organizations totaling $1.5 million to address tobacco use, prevention and control in the District. The funding was made possible through Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW), a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiative, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
The organizations, who now form a collective group known as the Community Catalyst Grantees will work with the DC DOH Tobacco Control Program (TCP) to engage residents living in wards 5-8; targeting African-Americans, Latinos, youth, young adults and the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgendered populations. The grantees will work to prevent and reduce the use of tobacco products and promote existing cessation resources.
The funded projects will emphasize high-impact, broad-reaching policy, environmental and systems changes focusing on: 1) Tobacco zoning/license restrictions, 2) Tobacco marketing/promotion restrictions, and 3) Bans on tobacco product discounts, with goal of preventing tobacco related deaths in the District of Columbia and helping residents achieve healthier and longer lives.
The Community Catalyst Grantees are:
- Mautner Project
- Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative
- Mary's Center for Materal and Child Care, Inc.
- The DC Center for the LGBT Community
- The George Washington University
- CMS Health Initiatives, Inc.
- DC Voice
- Breathe DC at United Medical Center Foundation (UMCF)