Beginning in 2011 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gave nearly $200 million dollars in Community Transformation Grants (CTG) to help communities design and implement programs to prevent chronic disease. California had the great fortune to be awarded multiple grants, with fourteen recipients receiving a total of $35,260,215. This funding provided an opportunity for California to take significant strides in addressing chronic diseases through efforts aimed at creating healthier communities. Despite the abrupt termination of the CTG program in the 2014 federal budget, there is much to learn and celebrate in the accomplishments and successes of California’s grantees.

This Web Forum will share some of the successes and lessons learned from three CTG sites’ tobacco free-living activities.  Efforts under this strategic direction include local strategies focused on limiting tobacco use and second-hand exposure to tobacco smoke. Join in to hear from program leads and a long time public health expert discuss what makes a successful tobacco prevention program work and how to build upon this momentum. New CDC grantees will gain valuable insight and interested stakeholders will have an opportunity to understand the impact of prevention funding in California examples.   

Any program striving towards addressing tobacco use through policy, system, and environmental changes efforts will have knowledge to glean from the experience, successes and challenges of projects from California’s CTG sites.