News and Events
Learn About the Mission of the Tobacco Free Partnership of Indian River County!
October 8, 2021
The Mission of the Tobacco Free Partnership (TFP) of Indian River County is to protect our community from the dangers of inhaled nicotine products and secondhand smoke exposure through evidence-based tobacco prevention and cessation strategies with an emphasis on youth and other disparate populations. Our work is guided by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs, as mandated by the Florida Constitution.
Best Practices of prevention strategies include preventing initiation of tobacco use among youth and young adults, promoting quit attempts among adults and youth, eliminating secondhand smoke exposure, and identifying and eliminating tobacco-related disparities among certain populations. Key in achieving this is our local Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) groups. Group of youth meet to regularly to mobilize their peers and deglamorize Big-Tobacco. In our county we have three local groups and over 50 members, and we regularly participate in local events to recruit more youth members.
Our latest recruitment event was held on October 8, 2021, and was organized by the Indian River County SWAT Executive Team. This recruitment event was hosted at the local state college and included special guest Monte Stiles, a former US Attorneys General Assistant. Monte visited Vero Beach, Florida from Idaho to speak with youth from our local SWAT club, and their friends, on how to be agents of change in their community. This event included 25 potential new members and received glowing reviews from all in attendance.
Our newsletter outlines some of the work our youth and our Tobacco Free Partnership does in our community and is aligned with CDC Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program. For more information on CDC Best Practices, visit https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/stateandcommunity/guides/index.htm
