Oakton,
Va., July 1, 2004-On
June 3, 2004 Northern Virginia
Family Service was awarded a
grant from Virginia Tobacco
Settlement Foundation (VTSF)
to support the Tobacco Use Prevention
Program for Youth (TUPPY). TUPPY
is an anti-tobacco program that
serves Northern Virginia area’s
youth. Since January 2002 NVFS
has provided tobacco use prevention
education to nearly 2,000 students.
In
July 2002, NVFS was first awarded
a grant from VTSF to implement
the prevention program for which
there is an identified need.
This award was renewed for the
2003 school year. This year
NVFS re-applied through the
competitive proposal process
and will now provide a third
year of programming. NVFS has
partnered with Arlington County
Public Schools, Fairfax-Falls
Church Community Services Board,
Fairfax County Community and
Recreational Services, and Fairfax
County Public Schools’ Alternative
School Program. These organizations
continue to support NVFS’ anti-tobacco
efforts.
According
to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, 22.9% of high
school students in America smoked
regularly in 2002. Nationally,
1 out of every 3 children who
tries smoking a cigarette becomes
a regular smoker before leaving
high school. Tobacco use among
high school students declined
from 34.5% in 2002 to 28.4%
in 2002. Unfortunately, the
overall tobacco use among the
middle school students remains
at 13.3%.
TUPPY
will focus on middle school
youth during the upcoming year.
TUPPY uses the Get Real About
Tobacco (GRAT) education-based
curriculum to teach groups of
young people about the harmful
effects of tobacco, what makes
them vulnerable to tobacco use,
and the skills for making healthy
decisions. GRAT focuses on three
core elements to include helping
youth to understand that they
are vulnerable even if they
don’t use tobacco and don’t
plan to use tobacco; helping
youth to realize that they are
influenced to use tobacco by
identifying the sources of influence;
and becoming critical of pro-tobacco
messages.
NVFS
is excited about this opportunity
and would like to thank VTSF
for continuing to support our
work in tobacco use prevention
education. Northern Virginia
Family Service looks forward
to working with the administration,
teachers, counselors, community
leaders, and students in the
upcoming year. Together we can
help the youth of Virginia stay
smoke-free.
Established
in 1924, Northern Virginia Family
Service is a private, non-profit
community service resource dedicated
to helping individuals and families
find new paths to self-reliance
and brighter futures. Each year,
NVFS helps more than 24,000
people find affordable housing,
counseling and child care; access
to low-cost medical and dental
services; foster and respite
care, job training; trauma recovery;
and much more. For more information,
visit www.nvfs.org.
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