State

Collaborations between states and priority population groups are extremely critical for ensuring effective tobacco control programs and policies.  Here, the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network shares how their work with Minnesota, Iowa, California and the North American Quitline Consortium has been important in the prevention and cessation process as well as in the development of relationships between LGBT communities and government agencies:

"Prevention and cessation programs work best when they are tailored to specific communities. This allows individuals to identify with the process and to feel that they are in a safe environment that acknowledges their identity.  The smoking disparities for the LGBT population are huge and they need attention from officials at the state level as well as from leaders within the LGBT community. We are able to make those connections and create bridges between the LGBT community and the state so that they can work together to reach out to those being disproportionately affected by tobacco.

The National LGBT Tobacco Control Network has worked with quitlines from Minnesota, Iowa and California as well as the North American Quitline Consortium. We have a membership with NAQC and have been involved with their data collection. We also gave a presentation on marketing techniques for smoking cessation and prevention in the LGBT community at the NAQC conference in February 2007. In California, we worked with the quitline to create a position statement and in Iowa we helped the quitlines gain funding through a American Legacy Foundation grant. In Minnesota, we have been contracted to work with the quitlines in making sure that staff are trained in cultural competency, to test a quitline question that appropriately includes transgender as a category, and to update existing LGBT material. Our most rewarding communication links to the states have been the 3 CDC/quitline meetings where states have been convened and we present and/or engage in individual discussions with representatives. Our focus has been on training around outreach to the community, cultural competency training and advising about materials.  For most states, this is the first LGBT cultural competency training that they have ever had and hopefully the work will continue to spread into other areas the state can address. "

If you are interested in collaborating with the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network, please email: lgbttobacco@gmail.com or call 617-927-6451.

 In another example of a state/network collaboration, Break Free Alliance is collaborating with Tennessee and Louisiana on a pilot training African American church representatives in Memphis, TN and New Orleans, LA to conduct brief tobacco cessation interventions. This project is funded through the American Legacy Foundation. For more information, please contact Janet Porter at jporter@healthedcouncil.org or 916-556-3344