Commercial Tobacco Prevention and Control
Tobacco Topics
- Behavioral Health
- E-cigarettes and Vapes
- E-cigarette School Toolkit
- Flavored Tobacco
- Menthol Tobacco
- Nicotine
- Quitting Tobacco
- JUUL Settlement
- Helping People Quit
- Secondhand Smoke
- Tobacco and COVID-19
- Tobacco 21
- Tobacco Taxes
- Traditional Tobacco
Related Topics
Contact Info
Tobacco-Free Communities Grant Program
The Tobacco-Free Communities Grant Program funds local community grants and technical assistance and training (TA) grants that aim to reduce and prevent youth tobacco use and address tobacco-related disparities in Minnesota by promoting community-driven tobacco prevention and control activities and strategies.
Community grantees implement activities that help build community capacity, change social norms around tobacco, and foster community readiness and support for tobacco control policies within their communities. TA providers support community grantees by ensuring they have the knowledge, skills, and resources to be successful in reducing tobacco-related health disparities and the negative influence of commercial tobacco in their communities.
Recent grantee stories
- May 2021: Tobacco-Free Alliance Mobilizes Change Agents in St. Paul Area
- February 2021: Community at the Heart of Commercial Tobacco Prevention
- October 2020: Leadership Challenges Enhance On-the-Ground Tobacco Prevention
- May 2020: Champion for LGBTQ Health Sees Progress
- April 2020: Keep Traditions Alive. Keep Tobacco Sacred.
Older stories
- 11/2019 Cultural Connections Help Somalis Become Tobacco-Free
- 05/2019 Traditional Tobacco Use Connects Native Youth to Culture, Community, and Health
- 02/2019 Community Education: A Powerful Strategy for Reversing Tobacco Trends
- 12/2018 Three Counties Partner for Tobacco-Free Communities
- 09/2018 Trusted Group is Shifting Hmong Cultural Practices around Tobacco Use
- 07/2018 Youth Voices are Powering Tobacco Law Changes
- 05/2018 Shift MN: An LGBTQ Advocate against Commercial Tobacco Use
- 04/2018 Online Provider Training will Deliver Quit Services to More People with Mental Illness
- 03/2018 Helping Smokers Reduce Stress of Poverty Is Key to Quitting
- 02/2018 Latino Culture Informs Effort at CLUES to Help Smokers Quit
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2016-2021 Grantees
Community Grantees
African Immigrants Community Services

African Immigrants Community Services works with East African refugees and immigrants in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties with a focus on youth and adult women. They are assessing the need for commercial tobacco prevention and cessation services by engaging with East African community members through listening circles, community forums and individual stakeholder interviews. They plan to develop a multilingual multi-media community outreach and education campaign on commercial tobacco prevention and cessation. East African youth will be recruited and trained as peer educators and engage other youth in tobacco prevention.
Recent stories
11/2019 Cultural Connections Help Somalis Become Tobacco-Free
Ain Dah Yung Center
Through the Ninijanisag Program, Ain Dah Yung works with American Indian youth between the ages of 8-21 in the Twin Cities metro area, to reduce non-traditional tobacco use in American Indian youth and young adults. The Ninijanisag (Our Children) Program educates youth about traditional tobacco use and general health education, engaging them in leadership and advocacy roles for a healthy lifestyle within their cultural context. This culturally responsive program leverages the strengths of the American Indian Community, including learning respect for tobacco as a sacred medicine and understanding how to live life in a good way.
Learn more about Ain Dah Yung Center at www.adycenter.org.
Recent stories
05/2019 Traditional Tobacco Use Connects Native Youth to Culture, Community, and Health
CLUES is assessing tobacco-related health disparities and health needs of LGBTQ Latinos and Latinos living with mental illness. They will utilize their Community Health Workers to integrate cessation connections and support into existing services and networks.
Learn more about CLUES at www.clues.org.
Recent stories
2/2018 Latino Culture Informs Effort at CLUES to Help Smokers Quit
Hmong American Partnership
Hmong American Partnership works with Southeast Asian refugees and immigrants in St. Paul, and the surrounding suburbs of Ramsey County. They are assessing the community’s awareness of, and need for culturally appropriate cessation services and resources. They plan to increase the community’s knowledge of and access to resources, support, and referrals to cessation services and integrate tobacco education into their existing program services.
Learn more about the Hmong American Partnership at www.hmong.org.
Recent stories
Minneapolis American Indian Center works with American Indian youth in the Twin Cities metro area to develop the youth’s leadership capacities and skills. They work with native youth to educate about commercial vs. traditional tobacco, traditional uses of tobacco, tobacco industry targeting of Native people, and the harm of commercial tobacco use. They plan to increase youth skills to advocate for smoke-free spaces, identify policy issues, and develop messages in support of policy changes, including working toward a commercial tobacco-free grounds policy for their worksite.
Learn more about the Minneapolis American Indian Center at www.maicnet.org.
Morrison-Todd-Wadena Community Health Board
Morrison-Todd-Wadena Community Health Board works with residents living in Morrison, Todd, and Wadena counties. They are conducting a local tobacco community health assessment across all three counties, including an assessment engaging the Hispanic/Latino community in Todd County, which will inform a community awareness campaign. In all three counties, they are working with community organizations, businesses, and events to be tobacco free and free of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. They are also working to improve, expand, and create integrated cessation protocols into existing health care services and community networks, specifically within agencies that serve those identified as at-risk populations.
Recent stories
NAMI focuses on engaging mental health workers and people living with mental illness throughout Minnesota. They work to increase the number of mental health workers trained in smoking cessation. They also aim to increase cessation treatment/referral by mental health workers by developing and launching an accredited training for mental health workers across the state. NAMI will also assess their readiness for and work towards a commercial tobacco-free grounds policy for their worksite.
Learn more about NAMI at www.namihelps.org.
Recent stories
4/2018 Online Provider Training will Deliver Quit Services to More People with Mental Illness
Pillsbury United Communities works with African Americans and minority populations in North Minneapolis to increase culturally appropriate connections to cessation services and cultural support in existing community services, programs and networks. They are developing design thinking workshops to engage community members to identify community needs and solutions. They also plan to integrate cessation services by leveraging their existing Community Health Workers, paramedics and coordinated care teams at North Memorial Medical Center.
Learn more about Pillsbury United Communities at www.puc-mn.org.
Recent stories
3/2018 Helping Smokers Reduce Stress of Poverty Is Key to Quitting
The Shift MN program of JustUs Health works with LGBTQ youth and young adults primarily in the Twin Cities Metro. They collect, analyze and disseminate information on trends about LGBTQ commercial tobacco use. They work to raise awareness, address misconceptions, and build community support for commercial tobacco prevention and control efforts in LGBTQ communities and partner with LGBTQ youth and young people to develop leadership skills in tobacco control, cessation promotion, health equity and advocacy. They work with the new JustUs Behavioral Health Clinic to integrate cessation connections and support within the clinical setting.
Learn more about JustUs Health at www.justushealth.org
Recent stories
5/2018 Shift MN: An LGBTQ Advocate against Commercial Tobacco Use
Tobacco-Free Alliance
Tobacco-Free Alliance works with residents living in Ramsey County and nearby cities. They partner with organizations serving African American, LGBTQ, Latino and Asian American, and low income communities to reduce tobacco industry influences and access and availability of commercial tobacco products, restrict the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol, increase smoke- and tobacco-free campus policies and increase availability of smoke-free housing for those experiencing tobacco-related disparities.
Learn more about the Tobacco-Free Alliance at www.mntobaccofreealliance.org.
Recent stories
WellShare International
WellShare International focuses their work with the East African and Somali communities in various Minneapolis neighborhoods. WellShare International is conducting a community-based assessment to strengthen Minnesota’s East African community’s capacity and involvement with commercial tobacco prevention and to create a community advisory committee. They also work with organizations and businesses to create smoke- and commercial tobacco-free environments and events. They work to integrate cessation connections and support into existing services and community networks, including integration of the Minnesota Quitline Network.
Learn more about WellShare International at www.wellshareinternational.org.
Recent stories
TA Grantees


The Public Health Law Center provides tailored legal technical assistance to civic leaders that can make the difference between success and failure in using law and policy to improve public health across a community. The Public Health Law Center has specialized in providing legal technical assistance related to tobacco issues for over 15 years.
Learn more
- Tobacco Use Prevention: 2021 Report to the Minnesota Legislature (PDF)
- Tobacco Use Prevention - 2019 Report to the Minnesota Legislature (PDF)
- 2016 Tobacco-Free Communities Grant Program - Request for Proposals (PDF)
- 2016 Tobacco-Free Communities Grant Program: Capacity Building Technical Assistance and Training - Request for Proposals (PDF)