Tobacco-Free GLOW awarded $325,000 contract, now has Batavia office

Tobacco-Free Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming Program (Tobacco-Free GLOW) has opened an office in Batavia to begin its five-year contract with first-year funding of $325,000. The contract from the New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Tobacco Control is one of three contracts awarded to Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) and will be administered under the direction of Anthony Billoni.

The Roswell Park tobacco-free programs support efforts to locally engage community stakeholders and youth in changing policies and norms about tobacco and tobacco use. Tobacco-Free GLOW will be operated by Community Engagement coordinator Kevin Keenan and Reality Check Youth Engagement coordinator Angela DiRosa.

"With their extensive contacts and experience in tobacco control, Kevin and Angela will be local leaders as we strive to create healthier communities in Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming counties," Billoni said.

"I'm excited to continue my work in tobacco control and look forward to engaging local community leaders and the public to strengthen tobacco-related policies that prevent and reduce tobacco use," Keenan said.

DiRosa, a lifelong resident of Genesee County, added, "I have been so privileged to be involved with the many successes that the tobacco control program has had over the last several years. This is a unique opportunity to help my home community minimize the influence of tobacco so our friends and families can live in healthier lives."

The Tobacco-Free Erie-Niagara (TF-EN) Program and the Tobacco-Free Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany Program (TF-CCA) also will be administered by Roswell Park through five-year contracts from NYS Department of Health, Bureau of Tobacco Control.

Andrew Hyland, Ph.D, chair of the Department of Health Behavior at RPCI said "Roswell Park has a long history of leading national and regional tobacco control efforts. These contracts provide an opportunity to continue those efforts in an efficient way that employs local leaders as they strive to prevent youth smoking and create tobacco-free communities throughout Western New York."
 
The primary goals of the tobacco control programs are to:

• Reduce the impact of retail tobacco marketing on youth by educating communities about the manipulative marketing tactics of the tobacco industry;
• Establish tobacco-free community norms through clean outdoor air policies by working with communities to create more smoke-free parks, playgrounds and beaches;
• Lessen secondhand smoke exposure by working with landlords and tenants to implement smoke-free housing policies in multi-unit dwellings.
• Diminish tobacco imagery in youth-rated movies by working for change in the rating system to require an R rating for movies that contain smoking imagery.
• Decrease tobacco-industry presence on social media by working with stakeholders and internet sites to enact and adhere to policies that protect youth from tobacco imagery.

All counties in New York State now have the resources of a community engagement program and a Reality Check youth action program through the Bureau of Tobacco Control. These contracts build on previous tobacco control funded work which supports the region's public health efforts and provides more comprehensive programing across the state.