Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Tobacco Control Program Awarded $1M in Contracts

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (Roswell Park) was awarded three contracts from the New York State Department of Health’s Bureau of Tobacco Control for regional tobacco control programs. Funding for the first year of the five-year contracts totals $1.05 million, supporting efforts to engage community stakeholders and area youth in changing policies and norms about tobacco and tobacco use throughout Western New York.

The programs are administered by the Department of Health Behavior at Roswell Park, under the direction of Anthony Billoni. “Each of these programs will have a regional office and locally based staff to engage and educate local leaders and the public, with a goal to strengthen tobacco-related policies and create healthier communities,” he said.

Tobacco-Free Erie-Niagara (Tobacco-Free-EN) — previously called the Erie-Niagara Tobacco-Free Coalition — received $400,000 for its first year of funding and will continue to operate from offices at Roswell Park. Established in 1993, the community-based organization has been effective in reducing the impact of tobacco by supporting adoption of policies around smoke-free outdoor air and tobacco-free housing, and by offering education regarding tobacco marketing by retailers.

Tobacco-Free Erie-Niagara will be managed by Community Engagement Coordinator Jenna Brinkworth and Reality Check Youth Engagement Coordinator Rachel Woock.

Tobacco-Free Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming (Tobacco-Free-GLOW) will operate through a $325,000 contract to fund its first year. The program will be managed by Community Engagement Coordinator Kevin Keenan and Reality Check Youth Engagement Coordinator Angela DiRosa from an office located in Batavia.

Tobacco-Free Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany (Tobacco-Free-CCA) also will provide services through a $325,000 contract. This Southern Tier program is under the management of Community Engagement Coordinator Kenneth Dahlgren and Reality Check Youth Engagement Coordinator Jonathan Chaffee from an office located in Olean.

“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 effective way that employs local leaders as they strive to prevent youth smoking and create tobacco-free communities throughout Western New York,” added Andrew Hyland, PhD, Chair of the Department of Health Behavior at Roswell Park.

The primary goals of the Roswell Park 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 multiunit 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 of 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 contract-funded tobacco control work that supports the region’s public health efforts and provides more comprehensive programing across the state.

Editor’s note: Photos of Billoni, Brinkworth, Woock, Keenan, DiRosa, Dahlgren and Chaffee available. To receive high-resolution .jpg versions of these images by email, please send a request to deborah.pettibone@roswellpark.org.

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About Tobacco-Free Western New York

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center established a tobacco-free community outreach program in 1993 and today administers three programs in Western New York: Tobacco-Free Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany (CCA); Tobacco-Free Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming (GLOW) and Tobacco-Free Erie-Niagara (EN). Each locally based programisfunded by New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Tobacco Control. Its goals are to prevent youth tobacco initiation through Reality Check youth outreach and prevent and reduce tobacco use among adults across this region and in New York state. To learn more, visit our website, friend us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

About Roswell Park

The mission of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is to understand, prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1898, Roswell Park is one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. The Institute is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers; maintains affiliate sites; and is a partner in national and international collaborative programs. For more information, visit www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email AskRoswell@Roswellpark.org. Follow Roswell Park on Facebook and Twitter.