National Working Group for ACTTION

July 1, 2010

Dear Partners,

As you can see from the masthead at the top of this newsletter, we have given ourselves a facelift! We at Partnership for Prevention have for some months been considering a new look for our website and newsletter, so we enlisted the help of a design firm.  As a result, ActionToQuit – Advancing Tobacco Cessation Policy will be our new identity and the old “ACTTION” will be discontinued. If you visit the ActionToQuit website (www.actiontoquit.org) you’ll see the new logo. From now on we will be using the new logo and revised identity. This publication will be referred to as the ActionToQuit Monthly Newsletter and its recipients the ActionToQuit Network.

One of Partnership’s priorities in 2010 is to grow the Network, so please tell your colleagues about the newsletter and the importance of tobacco cessation policy and system change. They can sign up at www.actiontoquit.org. Note that we are archiving the newsletter on the site, as well as posting daily news stories related to tobacco cessation policy and research (also archived). Navigation on the website has been improved, and a new Resources section has been added.

As we reach the midway point in 2010, we are pleased with the good start made by our six ActionToQuit state grantees.  The grants were announced in late March and the grantees had their kickoff meeting in April. Since then the grantees have been hard at work preparing the ground for their state summits.

Among the tasks underway:
• Working with their alliance partners to allocate the responsibilities for the many steps leading to a successful summit and follow up,
• Assembling lists of the types of  desired participant organizations and individuals, as well as specific invitees,
• Developing specific goals for the summit,
• Working out the proper balance between including midlevel/interested staff who are champions of the goals within their organizations and the need to involve higher level key decision-makers in the summit,
• Identifying tentative dates and locations for the summit, and locking them in as soon as possible in order to publicize “Save the Date,”
• Considering in some cases whether to time the summit for a date after the fall state elections which may have an effect on the environment for the plan, and
• Determining appropriate consultant qualities/skills, going beyond traditional facilitation, and considering marketing skills, project managers, resource facilitators, etc. all rolled into one.

One question that several of the grantees have raised is the effect of the new health reform law on cessation services.  Partnership is working to help answer that.

We are very pleased that our grantees have gotten off to such a strong start.  Each month we will be featuring an interview with one grantee to share a more in-depth picture of their progress.  This month Florida is in the limelight.

We hope you like the new look and welcome your comments. We thank you for all you’re doing to advance tobacco cessation policy in your sphere of influence.

Regards,

Diane Canova, JD
Vice President, Policy & Programs
Partnership for Prevention