|
February 26, 2007
North Shore Alliance of Gay & Lesbian Youth (NAGLY) has been awarded a “Get the Word Out” mini-grant for the amount of $2,000 from The Medical Foundation to educate and empower young people aged 12 to 21 to reduce youth tobacco use in Massachusetts. The grant, part of the state-wide Youth Action Initiative, is one of several awarded to youth groups associated with schools, faith communities, teen centers, community groups and other non-profit agencies across the Commonwealth.
“Nine out of ten adult smokers started smoking in their teens,” said NAGLY Director, Coco Alinsug. “That’s why it’s so important for teens to understand the ways tobacco companies target young people and make them think that smoking is glamorous or cool. There’s nothing cool about the suffering that tobacco causes. Smoking is still the number one preventable cause of death and illness in Massachusetts.”
According to surveys conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, more than 900,000 Massachusetts residents smoke; 9,000 of them die each year from tobacco-related causes. Though they are not smokers themselves, nearly 1,000 Massachusetts residents die from the effects of secondhand smoke.
Tobacco-related illnesses cost the Massachusetts health care system more than $2.7 billion each year, and smokers’ lost productivity accounts for an additional $1.5 billion lost each year to the Massachusetts economy.
The Youth Action Initiative is designed to engage young people throughout Massachusetts in counteracting tobacco marketing, changing social norms around tobacco use, and preventing young people from smoking.
NAGLY Director, Coco Alinsug said, “If we can prevent our young people from starting to smoke, we can protect another generation from becoming addicted to nicotine and suffering tremendous health and economic consequences throughout their lives.”
NAGLY exists to support and help empower youth and to assist them make positive, healthy choices. NAGLY is open to youth ages 14-21 who live, go to school, or work on the North Shore of Massachusetts and who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or are questioning.
The “Get the Word Out” mini grants and the Youth Action Initiative are funded through the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and managed by The Medical Foundation, Boston. |
