Policy and Advocacy

• NYC Smoke-Free protects the health of New Yorkers through tobacco control policy, advocacy, and education. We partner with community members, legislators, and health advocates to support local efforts to end the devastating tobacco epidemic throughout NYC.
• NYC Smoke-Free is a contractor of the NYS Department of Health Bureau of Tobacco Control, Advancing Tobacco Free Communities program. We foster environments supportive of policies that reinforce the tobacco-free norm in communities throughout New York State. We use an approach that utilizes a community-based strategy that includes education, mobilization, advocacy with decision-makers and government policy-maker education. NYC Smoke-Free utilizes its youth action arm, Reality Check, to engage community partners and organizations across NYC to raise awareness about the negative health and social impact of the presence and use of tobacco, specifically among the youth.
• At NYC Smoke-Free, we work with landlords, residents, building owners, property managers, and community organizations to adopt voluntary smoke-free policies. These policies help to protect New Yorkers and the health of residents from secondhand smoke exposure.
• Through our work at NYCSF we have helped over 21,000 units to become smoke-free, and more than 80 organizations to have smoke-free policies in place.
• Reality Check students participate in activities and events aimed at educating their peers, family, community members/leaders and local government officials about the problem of tobacco use and aim to expose the manipulative and deceptive marketing tactics of the tobacco industry in the local community and Big Tobacco presence throughout different forms of media.

Statistics

• In NYC, 8.7% of adults smoke cigarettes, while 6,000 public high school students smoke cigarettes and 28,000 use e-cigarettes. In NYC, 6.8% use e-cigarettes or vape products. In NYC 48.5% of adults smoke menthol cigarettes of which 89% are African American and 68% are Latino.
• The average age of a new smoker is 13; reaching schools and teen communities is vital to intercepting the influence of the tobacco industry on teens with information that informs and empowers their health.
• Largely, we have reached over 7,000 NYC students and connected with over 90 NYC schools.

The Health Policy & Community Affairs Department is responsible for championing public policies that advance PHS’s mission to reduce health disparities among underserved families in NYC. The Department serves as PHS’s chief advocate and representative on policy matters, provides thought leadership, and builds coalitions with partner organizations. It organizes and leads the organization’s state, local, and federal legislative and government relations strategy, building solid relationships with key community and elected official stakeholders. Additionally, the Department works to amplify PHS’s work for elected officials in all districts/boroughs where PHS programs are located to educate them about our programs to improve awareness of PHS’s critical work to support vulnerable NYC communities.