Recorded presentation

Robert W. Strack, PhD, MBA¹, Toshia Davis, MS, CHES², Kay A. Lovelace, PhD, MPH¹, and Anita P. Holmes, JD, MPH². (1) Department of Public Health Education, University of North Carolina Greensboro, P.O. Box 26170, Greensboro, NC 27402-6170, 336-334-3239, rstrack@uncg.edu, (2) General Baptist State Convention, Center for Health and Healing, 200 Meredith Drive, Suite 103, Durham, NC 27713

This presentation describes an innovative approach for engaging youth a state-wide anti-tobacco effort through Photovoice. The Picture Me Tobacco Free© project is one component of the North Carolina “Tobacco.Reality.Unfiltered.” campaign supported through state tobacco settlement funds. The Picture Me Tobacco Free project described here is conducted through a partnership between a local university and a state-wide association of African American Baptist churches. The project’s main goal was to increase youth and community awareness of tobacco’s influence on the lives of youth in an effort to mobilize communities for addressing tobacco issues at the local and potentially state levels. Cadres of African American youth from participating churches were trained in the Photovoice methodology and encouraged to document the influence of tobacco within the lives and communities of minority youth. Each trained Picture Me Tobacco Free youth team was expected to sponsor a Photovoice exhibit at their local church and encouraged to find a local sponsor for holding an additional exhibit at a local public library, community center, city hall or other public meeting space. From these exhibits local teams were offered assistance in creating local action plans for preventing the use of tobacco products, promoting cessation and advocating for local tobacco policy changes. A summary of the program’s influence on youth and communities is presented.

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