RWJF - Goals Update 2001

In 2001 states continued to debate how to allot funds from the three-year-old, $246-billion settlement with the tobacco industry. Washington state, Maine and Rhode Island passed significant tobacco price increases, which studies show drives down smoking rates. In Washington state citizens voted to have revenues used for both tobacco prevention programs and increased health care services. Comprehensive tobacco control initiatives already under way in Massachusetts, California, Florida, Arizona, Oregon and Mississippi have continued to bring about substantial decreases in smoking beyond the national average. Using interventions developed and tested through earlier research, our SmokeLess States^® grantees, as well as the Foundation-supported Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, have been powerful voices informing the debate over tobacco control at the state level and educating the public and policymakers about tobacco control issues. To further support those efforts, a National Tobacco Control Technical Assistance Consortium, co-funded with the American Cancer Society and the American Legacy Foundation, was formed this year to highlight best practices and serve as a resource to public health and tobacco control organizations.
As we grow more diverse as a nation, we face new challenges specific to various ethnic and racial groups who continue to bear a disproportionate burden from tobacco-related disease. RWJF’s “Voices in the Debate,” newly authorized in 2001, is intended to engage leaders and organizations representing racial and ethnic minorities to expand their role as partners in tobacco control.
Illicit Drug Use

     Building bridges and developing new partnerships are central elements in a $679,000 grant made to the University of California, San Francisco, for a program that reaches out to restaurant owners. It uses advertising and public relations efforts to highlight the facts about second-hand smoke and proven ways to achieve effective clean indoor air and smoke-free dining to protect both patrons and employees.
     In response to the paucity of evidence on treating young smokers, Helping Young Smokers Quit allots $8 million to develop an understanding of what works to help young smokers break their addiction.
     Up to 20 percent of pregnant women continue to smoke during pregnancy, increasing the risk of fetal illness. To address this problem, the Foundation’s Smoke-Free Families program has joined with more than 40 organizations to form a National Partnership to Help Pregnant Smokers Quit. The partnership was announced in an advertisement and series of articles in a New York Times special supplement on smoking published in November.
     Two complementary programs continue to bring media attention to the problem of binge drinking and alcohol abuse on college campuses. A Matter of Degree: Reducing High-Risk Drinking Among College Students, reauthorized at $7 million, has 10 partner colleges and universities working on campuses and with local community partners to influence policies and perceptions about drinking and its consequences. A $5-million renewal grant to the Education Development Center continues to help convene students, faculty and college presidents for training and education about the problem of campus alcohol abuse.
     The Foundation’s substance abuse prevention strategies rely on reaching youth well before the college years. Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) has been one of America’s most widely recognized and used school-based programs, although several past evaluations have questioned its effectiveness. In 2001 the Foundation convened D.A.R.E. leadership and national substance abuse prevention experts to revamp D.A.R.E. to embrace the best of our knowledge of school and community-based programs. A multisite evaluation of this enhanced D.A.R.E. program, combined with a strategy to communicate results, is part of a $13.7-million RWJF initiative coordinated through a grant to the University of Akron’s Center for Health and Social Policy.
     The Foundation also has been working to ensure that those who suffer from addiction get the treatment they need. An authorization in 2001 for $9.5 million seeks to better prepare the national alcohol and drug treatment system to improve the quality and timeliness of services. This initiative will look for innovations to improve the response system for getting people into treatment and to enhance individual case management so that patients stay in treatment longer.
     In the year ahead, the Foundation will continue to invest in multiple approaches—from improving the availability and delivery of treatment for individuals and addressing family and other social support systems to using research and marketing tools, media and policy change. Our grantmaking will employ a mix of social change strategies to prevent substance abuse and provide treatment to help Americans lead healthier, more productive lives.