Jefferson County Public Health’s Tobacco Prevention Initiative (TPI)

Jefferson County Public Health’s TPI receives voter-approved Amendment 35 funding to implement best practice tobacco prevention and control strategies at the local level. These strategies align with the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State of Colorado’s Strategic Plan for reducing tobacco’s toll across the state.

Current grant activities in Jefferson County focus on the following:

• Preventing tobacco use initiation and encouraging cessation among youth and young adults through promoting tobacco-free social norms and strong policies and practices in schools
• Providing education that facilitates and promotes community understanding of and support for local tobacco retail licensing ordinances, including assisting with implementation and monitoring compliance
• Supporting youth and adult coalitions with educating about policies that are known to prevent tobacco initiation, and reduce tobacco use and exposure (including cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other forms of tobacco)
• Working to eliminate secondhand smoke and secondhand aerosol/vapor exposure by educating about policy options to protect people from exposure in the following locations:
  • Indoor and outdoor areas of public places
  • Organizations, including government properties
  • Homes/multi-unit housing
• Increasing access to and use of evidence-based tobacco cessation services by improving providers’ use of tobacco cessation strategies (screening for tobacco use, brief counseling, referral)
• Working to identify and eliminate tobacco-related disparities among population groups

For more information about specific activities or projects of the Tobacco Prevention Initiative please contact Donna Viverette at dviveret@jeffco.us.