Tobacco Documents Online

t I BOYS• CLUBS <J F A1 f'I8,,. RICL-9 -C N'A .... E`D BN D CD0'N G R E S S 1956 / 0 / 771 FIRST AVENUE • NEW YORK, N Y. 10017 TEL 1212) 684 • 4400 'fHE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION AND J„M. FOIiiVDATION NATIONAL HEALTH PROJECT September 23, 1977 Mr. Donald P. Carmody, Director Division of HealthlProtection Office of Policy Development & Planning Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health 5600 Fishers Lane - Room 17A-19, Rockville, biaryland 20857 ; Dear Mr. Carmody: Our National Director, William R. Bricker, has asked me to respond to ~ Dr. Richmond's recent request. I We appreciate greatly the opportunity to share with youlour thoughts ' relative to the problem of cigarette smoking because for several years we were a member of the Interagency Task Force on Smoking. ! We also covet this opportunity to respond to Dr. Richmond's inquiry i because we are just in the preliminary stages of implementing a three ;and one-half year programidemonstration project involving five sites ;in a Health Services and Education Project fundediby the Robert Wood ~Johnson Foundation of Princeton, New Jersey and The J. M. Foundation of !New York City. The attached leaflet briefly describes our project. ;Each of our pilot sites plan to deal with this problem. ;In preparing for our National Health Project, The Robert Wood Johnson .Foundationifunded a survey of our member Clubs and of twenty-five (25) health related problems the need for smoking education programs for Club members ranked seven point five (7.5). For Clubs to deal with the ,smoking problem our survey showed: Rank Community Attitude Change is Needed Financial Assistance Needed Education~and Training of Staff needed Technical Advice & Consultation needed ,r 14

'~r+ir. Donald P. Carmody. Director September 23, 1977 !'Division of Health Protection V lRockville, Maryland ~ ~ ; . Our staff members in the four hundred eighty-four (484) responding Clubs •felt smoking education was most important for members fourteen years of iage and over, pre-ad'olescents eleven to thirteen was the next important ;age group and those ten and under was the least important age group to 'focus on. The need for smoking education did not seem to be more import- `ant because of race but interest in smoking education was rated higher ;by Club staff when members were from families whose mean income was the :highest ($12,000 per year and over). } Because we serve a population that is made up heavily of minority youth iand others from lower socio-economic communities, we feel we are dealing ;with a high risk population. Our study would suggest that a strong media ,icampaign would be required to change community attitudes in regards to ~smoking. However, our strateg in our health project will focus on using materials developed by the American Cancer Society aimed at younger children (grades one-three), designed to help them feel good about them- selves and encourage them to take care of their bodies because they like ithemselves. Information about the respiratory system and how smoking affects that system is shared. For teenagers and pre-adolescents we will attempt to modify an adult "I Quit" Smoking course and will attempt to duplicate the success rate (60%) that course has enjoyed by adults. We will then trainiteenagers to help conduct these courses andihelp conduct ;the programs for younger age groups. Peer to peer and cross-age helping being specific techniques for reinforcing and spreading information. j . { In this problem, as with so many others, a basic necessity is to provide training to staff and supportive technical assistance so as to help moti- vate them to want to do something about the problem and to help them feel pompetent enough to produce positive results. Therefore, as a strategy we would urge : ` i ~ 1. ij + ~!II 2. i 3. i ~ 4. j i Making broadly available to schools, youth agencies, churches and other community groups, materials suchlas those developed by the American Cancer Society. Conducting training programs for staff of those organiza- tions tions who wish to use the materials. Providing trairiing in colleges and universities that prepare teachers, youth workers and others in reference to smoking and other "lifestyle" health problems of children and youth. Make these services available, not on a crash basis (1-3 years) but on a longer basis of from five taten years. It takes that long for something to be truly integrated into a system. [ would estimate that Boys' Clubs of America.could coordinate such an ipproach to this problem for its 1, 096 affiliated Boys' Clubs serving in ~xcess of 1,000,0010 young people for $100,000 per year. This amount allow- ing us to get such a smoking educational effort launched in 100-150 Boys' `lubs per year. 1005089965 ~ ~

. Carmod Director Mr: Donald P y, . ~ Division of Health Protection September 23, 1977 Rockville, Maryland If we at Boys' Clubs of America can be of any additional assistance please feel free to get in touch with me by mail or call me on my private line (212)557-8597. I hope we have been of some help to you and~wish you success in your venture. Sincerely, + r ~ DFW/ef ~ Encl. I cc: WilliamiR. Bricker , i , Alex A. Maleski t .• 644zet ~ PDavid F. Wyn Director National Health Project