Texas Christian University was awarded a $20,000 grant as part of the American Cancer Society and the CVS Health Foundation’s Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative (TFGCI), a $3.6 million multi-year program that supports colleges and universities’ efforts to adopt and implement 100 percent smoke- and tobacco-free campus policies.
TCU is one of the first 20 colleges and universities to receive a TFGCI grant.
Over the next three years, colleges and universities throughout the United States will be awarded the TFGCI grants, and will receive technical assistance and resources to support their efforts with education, communications, cessation and evaluation.
“We’re honored to be one of the first universities to receive this pioneering grant and look forward to using these critical new resources to enable our tobacco prevention taskforce to successfully promote the adoption and implementation of a strong 100 percent tobacco-free policy on campus,” said Dr. Suzy Lockwood, associate dean for nursing at TCU. “Protecting the health and wellness of our faculty, staff, students and visitors and creating a healthier and cleaner campus environment is a very high priority.”
TFGCI grants are intended to address a critical, unmet need by helping colleges and universities achieve 100 percent smoke- and tobacco-free campus policies. The U.S. Department of Education reports there are 4,700 institutions of higher education in the United States. According to the Americans for Nonsmokers Rights Foundation, only 1,427 college campuses are 100 percent smoke- and tobacco- free.
TCU’s grant announcement coincides this week with the American Cancer Society Great American Smokeout on Nov. 17, an intervention effort to encourage smokers to quit for a day, quit for good, or make a plan to quit.
In 2014, CVS Health became the first, and remains the only, national pharmacy chain to eliminate the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products from its stores.
“We’re at a critical moment in our nation’s efforts to end the epidemic of tobacco use, but we know we can’t do it alone,” said Eileen Howard Boone, senior vice president for Corporate Social Responsibility and Philanthropy for CVS Health, and president of the CVS Health Foundation. “Through the power of partnership and by increasing the number of tobacco-free colleges and universities, we can contribute to the progress being made where a tobacco-free generation in the U.S. seems possible, and not a faraway dream.”