News and Events

The Tobacco Free Partnership of Columbia County is Making Plans for the 2020-2021 Year!
September 4, 2020

As of June 18, 2020, the Tobacco Free Partnership of Columbia County has a new leadership and she is ready to hit the ground running and to take on new challenges. As before, the partnership and its community members are constantly working towards reducing youth access and exposure to tobacco products, this includes all tobacco, e-cigarettes, and vaping devices. Our mission is supported by the Bureau of Tobacco Free Florida and we are striving to promote tobacco free social norms, reduce or eliminate initiation of youth tobacco use, establish policy change, and support tobacco cessation.

The partnership met recently for the first time since the new tobacco prevention specialist took over leadership. We discussed the plans for the upcoming fiscal year along with updating bylaws and electing the Advisory Council. As a partnership there was discussion about upcoming plans and focus was put on outreach and creation of more tobacco free events and the county fairgrounds locally. Our goals and priorities this year will be to engage and educate new partners and decision makers about the importance of Tobacco Retail Licensing at the local level and engaging with new worksites and local parks for tobacco policy change. Also discussed was a push for providing more education on e-cigarettes and support for parents, students, and community members.

The partnership is involved in community events such as World’s Greatest Baby Shower, Trunk or Treat, Columbia County Fair, Olustee Festival, and Tobacco Free Florida Week to engage and educate about the dangers of vaping and the creation of new policies to reduce point of sale marketing toward youth.

You can join and participate in the Tobacco Free Partnership of Columbia County, and help with fostering change in our community by implementing stricter tobacco free policies, counteracting tobacco product marketing at the retail point-of-sale, and educating the public on the dangers of all tobacco products. We also have a Point of Sale Task Force subcommittee that meets to discuss tobacco product marketing toward youth and how tobacco retailing licensing in our county could help gain more control over how tobacco and nicotine products are sold.      

The work of the partnership is supported by a Community-Based Tobacco Prevention Grant through the Florida Department of Health Bureau of Tobacco Prevention Programs and reflect the goals of The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Best Practices for Tobacco Control Programs guidelines. We also work to increase the number of tobacco free workplaces and events held in our community.

To learn more about our organization and what we are working towards for Columbia County, visit: www.TFP-Columbia.org or contact Brooke Frye at BFrye@QuitDoc.com.

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