Empowering advocates: Public health advocacy from the lens of tobacco advocacy

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's public health objective to “drive fundamental improvements in the quality and impact of the public health system, including advocating for policies that improve the health of all Americans” drove Tobacco Policy Change in its unexpected fourth year of funding to examine the link from tobacco policy advocacy to other public health issues disparately affecting the same populations as previous TPC grantees.

As TPC attracted more diverse applicants during the course of funding, many of the organizations in the communities TPC approached (working class, communities of color, rural, and Indian Country) were already struggling to address more than one critical public health need. Obesity and access to health care affected many of the groups who led Tobacco Policy Change grants in the first three rounds of funding.

The fourth round of funding represents a dynamic shift from the tobacco control “silo” in which the movement has largely resided - of necessity originally, to draw national attention to a preventable public health crisis. As the number and percentage of people living in communities with clean indoor air laws grows nearly daily, TPC released a special solicitation focusing on regions suffering from greater disparities in tobacco use and exposure, children in need of health care coverage, and the prevalence of adult obesity.

We will examine early results from twelve grantees who are bridging the fields of tobacco control and public health by movement applying tobacco advocacy skills and strategies to other public health concerns responsible for health outcome disparities.