Linking Environmental policy, assessment, design and strategies in the community: Beyond tobacco control to public health

Abstract: This presentation examines the importance of broadening and diversifying the power base for policy advocacy and the lessons in applying policy advocacy experiences from tobacco control to a broader range of public health issues. Launched in 2004, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Tobacco Policy Change: A Collaborative for Healthier Communities and States expands the power base for tobacco policy advocacy, focusing on engaging advocates whose constituencies are disproportionately impacted by tobacco use and other public health issues. TPC emerged from the lessons of RWJF's decade-long investment in tobacco control policy campaigns and building the infrastructure for policy advocacy across the nation. This work led to impressive victories in tobacco taxes, clean indoor air, and for prevention and treatment funding. However, there were far fewer victories in communities of color, blue collar and rural regions of the South, Midwest, and in Indian Country. TPC has produced a pool of diverse advocates working in highly impacted communities. The program evolved overtime to demonstrate how the rich experience of health policy advocates can be applied to a variety of public health areas where disparities exist, including tobacco, obesity, environmental health. During this session, lessons on how to bring community policy advocates together to address a range of public health needs will be shared.