Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island will be leading a Reality Check youth advocacy training for 25 middle school students, starting July 6.
Reality Check, Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island’s Youth Component, is currently accepting applications for students coming into the seventh-ninth grades who’d like to grow their youth advocacy skills. Trainings will be held July 6, 13, and 27 at the Brentwood Public Library to educate students on the dangers of tobacco use and the deceptive marketing practices of the tobacco industry.
Reality Check is a youth-led, adult-supported program that runs across New York state. It empowers youth to create change at the local and state level through education and policy efforts.
“Since the average age of a new smoker is 13, the local youth have a chance to work toward changing these alarming statistics and make a really big change in the communities that they live in,” says PJ Tedeschi, director of Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island.
The Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island works to establish tobacco-free policies in order to make Long Island a healthier place to live, work, and play. It’s one of 25 Advancing Tobacco Free Communities grants funded by the New York State Department of Health’s Bureau of Tobacco Control through a grant administered by the American Lung Association of the Northeast, according to Tedeschi. Reality Check, its youth action component, became part of its grant three years ago.
“Reality Check believes that the youth perspective and voice is important in creating sustainable change in our communities,” Tedeschi says.
For more details and an application for the training, contact judith.montauban@lung.org or call 631-415-0944.
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Main image: Reality Check is a youth-led, adult-supported program that runs across New York state.
Courtesy Tobacco Action Coalition of Long Island
