16 higher education institutions pledge to go tobacco/vape-free through college program

Fourteen colleges and universities and two college systems were awarded grants from Truth Initiative^® to adopt a 100% tobacco/vape-free policy, a move that will protect more than 241,000 students and 36,000 faculty and staff.

The Truth Initiative Tobacco/Vape-Free College Program offers grants to minority-serving academic institutions, community colleges and women’s colleges, to engage their campus community to address smoking, vaping and tobacco use in all forms. After recently expanding the program to include college systems, two new grantees now have the potential to impact more than 130,000 individuals alone. Since 2015, the Tobacco/Vape-Free College Program has protected more than 2 million students, faculty and staff by providing funding to 200 colleges and systems to advocate for and adopt a 100% tobacco/vape-free policy. Grantees will form a taskforce to coordinate the policy effort, assess tobacco-related issues, promote tobacco cessation and develop a policy recommendation. Student leaders will develop and lead educational efforts to build a movement to become a tobacco/vape-free institution.  

With 98% of smokers starting before age 26 and the youth vaping epidemic continuing, college campuses are critical to preventing young adults from starting tobacco use, aiding current smokers and vapers in quitting and reducing exposure to secondhand smoke for all.

The latest grantees of the Truth Initiative Tobacco/Vape-Free Program include:

• Stillman College, Alabama
• Skyline College, California
• Santa Ana College, California
• Colorado Northwestern Community College Foundation, Colorado
• Community College of Aurora, Colorado
• Manchester Community College, Connecticut
• Quincy College, Massachusetts
• Blackfeet Community College, Montana
• Salem Academy and College, North Carolina
• Felician University, New Jersey
• Jefferson Community College, New York
• Our Lady of the Lake University, Texas
• Rutgers University, New Jersey
• Snow College Foundation, Utah
• South Carolina Technical College System, South Carolina
• South Seattle College, Washington

As part of a continued commitment to addressing tobacco as a social justice issue, Truth Initiative is accepting applications for the next round of grants through the Tobacco-Free College Program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly Black Institutions to support the adoption and implementation of a 100% tobacco/vape-free policy. Applications are due December 1.