Community leaders, local government staff and elected officials are encouraged to attend one of a series of upcoming virtual town halls across Florida to discuss the impact of tobacco use on the community and strategies to promote tobacco use prevention and control.
Attendees will have the opportunity to hear in-depth presentations about trends in tobacco-related disease, especially the youth e-cigarette epidemic, from national experts Dr. Ramzi Salloum, an economist and assistant professor in the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida College of Medicine; and Andrew Romero, the director of the Geographic Health Equity Alliance at the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America.
Following the plenary talks, attendees will break into one of three small group discussions to offer their contributions about specific aspects of their own community’s tobacco control strategies. Attendees can choose from the following list of topics at the time they register for the town hall:
- Tobacco Sales, Retail Licensing, and Zoning
- Smoke Free Policy (public housing, bars, beaches, parks)
- Flavored products
Session moderators will present reports from the breakout room discussions before the town halls conclude at 11:30 am.
The town halls are free and open to the public.
May 19
East Central Florida
(Brevard, Osceola, Orange, and Seminole counties)
May 26
West Central Florida
(Hardee, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Polk counties)
June 4
North Central Florida
(Alachua, Bradford, Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Levy, Union, Putnam, Columbia, Hamilton, and Suwanee counties)
June 11
South Florida
(Miami-Dade and Monroe counties)
June 18
Big Bend Area
(Holmes, Washington, Bay, Jackson, Calhoun, Gulf, Gadsden, Liberty, Franklin, Leon, Wakulla, Jefferson, Madison, and Taylor counties)
June 24
Northeast Florida
(Baker, Nassau, Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Flagler, and Volusia counties)