CBCF PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES AMERICAN LEGACY FOUNDATION® EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIP WITH SIX PROMINENT NATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS

CBCF President Weldon J. Rougeau announced today that the organization is part of a group of six major African American organizations to receive a $4.5 million, three-year grant from the American Legacy Foundation®: The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); the National Association of Neighborhoods; the National Conference of Black Mayors; the National Newspaper Publishers Association; and the National Urban League. make up the partners in this coalition, known as the “African American Partners for a Tobacco-Free Society.”

The American Legacy Foundation is funding the African American Partners for a Tobacco-Free Society in order to engage African American leadership organizations collectively for the first time in raising public awareness about the toll of tobacco use in the African American community, and to enhance tobacco cessation and prevention efforts nationwide. The grant was publicly awarded today at a news conference at the Historic Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C., and will be coordinated by the National Association of Neighborhoods.

“As a partner in this initiative, CBCF will conduct tobacco control prevention and cessation education programs on ten of those campuses. We know that young people listen when other young people talk,” said President Rougeau. “So, with that premise as a basis for our actions, we will work hard to make sure they know how powerful their voices can be in this anti-smoking campaign,” he concluded.

“The most recent data available from 1995 indicates that approximately 45,000 African American lives are lost to tobacco-related disease each year. We are excited that these six major national African American organizations have decided to unite for such an important purpose,” says Cheryl G. Healton, Dr.P.H., president of the American Legacy Foundation. “This campaign is unique in the sense that it approaches the problem from several different angles; there are several components including paid and pro bono advertising, editorial coverage and peer-to-peer training. These varied approaches will allow the organizations to reach numerous African American audiences.”

Activities to be undertaken as part of the initiative include:

• “Showcase events” designed to increase synergy among the partners and raise public awareness.

• Expansion of health education activities aimed at improving the health status of African American families.

• Development of tobacco control educational initiatives for college students at HBCU’s.

• Production and placement of an educational campaign about the dangers of secondhand smoke through broadcast media.

• Creation of a journalism fellowship program to further explore and educate about the effects of tobacco use on African Americans. Continued>>>

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The CBCF serves as a nonpartisan, policy-oriented catalyst to educate future leaders and promote collaboration among community and business leaders, minority-focused organizational leaders, and organized labor to effect positive and substantive change in the African American community.