Turning Technology Grant Opportunity

Some of you may remember the fun "clickers" used at our last VTSF grantee conference but for those who were not there, these audience response gadgets integrate into Microsoft® PowerPoint® and allow audiences and students to participate in presentations or lectures by submitting responses to interactive questions using a ResponseCard® keypad or other hand-held/computer devices.

This company now has a grant opportunity for K-12 schools to obtain this neat gizmo. Visit this site to learn more:

<http://cts.vresp.com/c/TurningTechnologiesL/ec791cd86d/185c7fc7d6/d29aa740bf/cid=k12grant08>

Fit Kids Act

As many of you know, childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions here in our country. By 2010, 20% of U.S. children are expected to be obese, increasing their danger of suffering from heart disease as adults. What does this have to do with tobacco use prevention you ask? A lot! Studies have found that youth involved in sports are less likely to smoke.

Take a look at this new initiative by the American Heart Association which proposes an amendment to the No Child Left Behind Act which would encourage schools to provide regular, quality physical education and promote healthy lifestyles. This legislation can make a real difference in the quality of our kids’ lives – now and in the future. Click on over and see how your young people can take part. There's a fun photo petition of well-worn sneakers, resources for kids' health/fitness and an email template to send to legislators. http://www.fitkidsact.org/

Don't forget!

REMINDER to all new one year grantees (FY 08-09)

Please sign and return two copies of the contract that was emailed to you with your award letter as well as your signed acknowledgement form from the VTSF Grants Administration Manual. These are your first grant reporting requirements and must be submitted to our Richmond office before any invoices/reimbursements can be processed. Thanks to those who have already sent them in.

Yabba Dabba WHAT?

There's more than one reason these moms are outraged....

Check it out!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NAExoSozc2c

Teens and Smoke Free Restaurants

If you didn't catch this Associated Press article last month, be sure to read on. Very interesting findings regarding the impact of smoke free policies on our youth.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/05/06/0506smokingstudy.html

Latino Council Fellowship Opportunity

I recently learned of a fellowship opportunity through the National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention (LCAT). This fellowship program was designed in 2001 to address the leadership shortage in Hispanic tobacco use prevention and control efforts at the community level. The purpose of the program is to create a trained cadre of Hispanic/Latino tobacco control advocates to work on public awareness and public policy initiatives in communities throughout the country. If you have interest or know of others who might be good candidates, please email me at jmartin@vtsf.org for the application details. The deadline is July 3rd.

OOPS!

So for all of you over-achieving new one year grantees out there, please throw out the one year invoice you may have already downloaded from our website. We just ran it through another test and found a glitch. So sorry for any confusion! As of Wednesday (June 4) the correct version was posted so please use that one.

Start spreading the news....

New York now has the nation's highest cigarette tax bringing a pack to $10 in New York City.

They've certainly got the right idea as the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids states "Every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes will reduce youth smoking by about seven percent and overall cigarette consumption by about four percent."

Here's the full article for your reading pleasure:

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/984263,cigarette060308.article

Tar Jar Instructions

Thanks to Dawn Viers at New River Valley Community Services, we can all make our own Tar Jars now! Check out this link for information on tobacco use prevention activities that you and your class can create on your own.

The Tar Jar is an item sold by Health EdCo and similar companies as a teaching tool to graphically illustrate a year's worth of tar that accumulates in a smoker's lungs.

http://www.tarwars.org/PreBuilt/TobaccoEducationExperimentsAndActivities.pdf