Smoke-free parks: a 12-year-old made it happen.
This case study examines how a 12-year-old in the City of Grand Terrace, California was able to get the city council to adopt a resolution making city parks smoke-free/tobacco-free zones in his community. Over a three-month period of time, this 12-year-old (with tremendous support from his parents and sister) applied for and received a mini-grant from the Tri-County SOUTH Regional Tobacco-Free Project and implemented "The Terrace is GRAND with Smoke-Free Parks" activities. This young man recruited 11 youth and 9 adults, trained them in the basics of tobacco prevention called Tobacco 101, and collected 100 surveys and 809 petition signatures supporting smoke-free parks from residents in Grand Terrace. They also collected trash in their parks and separated it into two groups: tobacco-related trash and all other trash. This 12-year-old met with the mayor of Grand Terrace to ask for support for this issue and scheduled a time to present his group's findings to the city council. On June 22, 2000, the youths presented council members with the tobacco-trash collected, the petition signatures, taped end-to-end, that stretched across the council chambers, and asked the city council to make their parks smoke/tobacco-free. Council members acknowledged the excellent work implemented by these youths, adopted a resolution making all parks (except one senior park) tobacco-free, and agreed to place signage in the parks. On August 24, 2000, the city council presented him with his own "Tobacco-Free Zone" sign as an acknowledgment for his hard work in making parks safe places for youths in Grand Terrace.
Henriques
Carlene E
CE
Tri-County SOUTH Regional Tobacco-Free Project, Riverside, CA, USA. c_henriques@sbcglobal.net
Newton
Donna R
DR
Marshak
Helen Hopp
HH
D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002958:City Planning / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003256:Community Participation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D009111:Local Government; D008297:Male; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D010290:Parents; D011057:Politics; D011639:Public Opinion; D011640:Public Policy; D011998:Recreation; D012907:Smoking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D000074606:Smoking Prevention