MAPS Youth Tobacco Prevention Program Shifts to Advocacy

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MAY 22, 2002 -- "It's going to get to a point where you can only smoke at home," says Vanessa Santos, the Youth Tobacco Prevention Coordinator at the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS). For Santos, that would be a step in the right direction in the battle against tobacco use and all the illnesses that go along with it.

MAPS, a nonprofit organization that has provided health and social services to Portuguese speakers in the area for more than 30 years, has offered a Youth Tobacco Prevention Program for many years. The program is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and has taught hundreds of young people about the risks of smoking.

Now, the focus has shifted from direct education to advocacy, according to Santos, who works out of the MAPS Somerville office at 92 Union Square. The program's five teen peer leaders have been working on a variety of advocacy projects in Cambridge and Somerville. Recently they have been communicating their concerns on tobacco policy and regulations affecting youth with Somerville city politicians and Somerville High School administrators.

According to Santos, "It's much more effective to have the youth talking to the politicians," rather than having adult agency staff do the talking. She said the peer leaders are working with the Somerville High principal and the mayor to reinforce anti-smoking policies at the school; to apply new smoking policies; and to circulate a petition to ban smoking at the entire municipal concourse off Highland Avenue. Currently, smoking is not allowed in front of the high school, but smokers can still light up outside of City Hall right next door.

Santos says the students have gotten an enthusiastic response so far to their work. She highly recommends speaking out in public forums about other important issues as well.

"We all should be working at some point, on some level, to do some advocacy on the things that we care about," she says.

About MAPS
MAPS is a private, non-profit organization that works with and for the Brazilian, Cape Verdean, Portuguese and other Portuguese-speaking communities to increase access and remove barriers to health, education and social services through direct services, advocacy, leadership and community development. The organization was founded in 1970 and has offices in Cambridge, Somerville, Dorchester, Allston and Lowell.

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Copyright © 2002 Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers, Inc. All rights reserved.