WHO WE ARE
The Youth Engagement Alliance (YEA) for Tobacco Control provides technical assistance and support to adult coordinators who work with youth in commercial tobacco prevention and control efforts. The YEA seeks to strengthen youth engagement within tobacco control by providing networking, resources and technical assistance to our 500+ member network by highlighting best practices and encouraging the sharing of ideas between coordinators in the field.
The Youth Engagement Alliance is a program of the Truth Initiative, with collaborative support from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. The network consists of many national, state, tribal, territorial and regional professionals who work with youth to fight commercial tobacco. Led by a Leadership Team of experienced coordinators from successful commercial tobacco prevention and control programs from across the country. With support from TFK and Truth, Leadership Team members collaborate to identify Youth Engagement best practice while elevating timely tobacco control resources to support the diverse network of coordinators who make up the YEA membership from across the country.
HISTORY
Youth Engagement Alliance values:
- The integrity of true youth engagement through promising and best practices.
- The inclusion of youth as equal partners [in tobacco control] with the goal of creating a tobacco-free generation.
- Highlighting model tobacco prevention program through the developing of best practice strategies while looking at evidence-based approaches to involve youth in tobacco control work.
In 2008, Truth Initiative (then Legacy) and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids partnered together to create the first ever Coordinator Camp, a conference dedicated to training and supporting adult coordinators working with youth in tobacco control across the country, where over one hundred adult coordinators attended and received training and resources to support their work preserving the integrity of youth engagement within tobacco control.
Over the course of the next several years, coordinators continued to stay in touch and communicated an interest in year-round networking, resources and technical assistance. In December of 2012, the Youth Engagement Alliance was founded to fill that need.
Mission Statement: We are a unified voice to cultivate and advance effective strategies for youth engagement and advocacy in tobacco control by providing support, networking, training and resources for those working with youth.
OUR TEAM
The Youth Engagement Alliance is a program of the Truth Initiative, with collaborative support from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and led by a Leadership Team of experienced coordinators from successful programs from around the country. Leadership Team members collaborate together to identify Youth Engagement best practice while elevating timely tobacco control resources to support the diverse network of coordinators who make up the YEA membership from across the country.