What is the National Consortium on Tobacco Use Prevention?

The Consortium creates an opportunity to foster partnerships at the national, state and local level that will strengthen efforts to prevent the initiation of tobacco use by youth and promote enforcement of comprehensive tobacco-free school policies and practices. As part of its cooperative agreement with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Adolescent and School Health, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) serves as the convener of the National Consortium on Tobacco Use Prevention through Schools. 

The Consortium works to develop strategies to strengthen state-level partnerships that involve state school boards associations and other key stakeholders to support tobacco prevention among youth through comprehensive tobacco-free school policies.

Participation in the Consortium allows member organizations to share strategies and expertise in the fields of education and health policy, with particular attention to tobacco use prevention through school policies.  Through Consortium membership, state school boards associations gain access to valuable tobacco prevention expertise, while members of tobacco prevention and other education and health-related organizations build their capacity to work effectively with state school boards associations to promote comprehensive tobacco free-schools policies.

Consortium activities include bi-monthly conference calls with other Consortium members, bi-monthly email updates, a series of technical assistance conference calls featuring speakers who highlight topics relevant to tobacco-free schools, and an annual in-person Consortium meeting at NSBA headquarters in Alexandria, VA.  

For more information about Consortium, please contact Karen Lewis, Project Director, Tobacco Prevention.