Promoting Local Tobacco Prevention Policy Change through Youth-Adult Collaboration – The 84 Movement

The 84 Movement, funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and managed by Health Resources in Action, is a youth statewide tobacco prevention movement. Built through community and school-based “84 Chapters,” youth support local and statewide tobacco prevention policy change efforts and promote the positive social norm that most youth do not smoke.

Youth in The 84 Movement led tobacco prevention policy change initiatives in their communities since 2005. In 2008, Boston youth and city officials led the way to ban the sale of tobacco in pharmacies, becoming the second city in the nation to do so. Since then, youth in eight cities and towns have successfully followed their lead. In 2011, youth in New Bedford and Boston successfully advocated for an ordinance that would ban the sale of single, cheap cigars to make them less accessible to youth, and in Boston, this ordinance included regulating electronic cigarettes like tobacco products to prevent their sale to underage youth.

Many of these efforts were accomplished through supportive youth-adult collaborations. Working in partnership with local tobacco control partners and coalitions, youth conducted environmental research to document the need for policies, mobilized stakeholders to support their efforts, presented their findings to local officials and residents, and collaborated with adults to identify viable policy change opportunities. Adult partners supported these efforts through trainings, providing legal expertise and co-creating the policy campaign map.

This session proposes methods to effectively and authentically engage youth in local tobacco prevention policy change efforts and foster youth advocacy.