Maine Youth Takes on Big Tobacco

AUGUSTA, Maine--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Partnership for a Tobacco-Free Maine and the Maine Youth Action Network (MYAN) along with a Youth Planning Team is hosting the 5^th Annual Stop. Quit. RESIST! Anti-Tobacco Summit, which brings together youth from all over Maine to join with adult advocates to fight against Big Tobacco. The Anti-Tobacco Summit will be held at the Augusta Civic Center on Thursday, April 30^th and Friday, May 1^st. Participants who attend the Summit will gain resources, connections, and skills from various workshops that strive to give participants tools and information to make the communities of Maine healthier.

“The Maine Youth Action Network, and the Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine, provides resources to youth and adults across the state to help make their action plans for change a reality.”

Since 2005, the Stop. Quit. Resist! Summit has promoted three main goals. The first is to stop the big tobacco companies’ lies by exposing the truth. The second goal is to help people who smoke to quit the habit and to teach youth who do not smoke how to support individuals who are trying to quit. The last goal that the Summit promotes is to help youth resist the pressure to smoke and to help others do the same. Those three main principals have made this Summit a success from the start.

This year’s keynote will feature Rick Stoddard who will use his experiences to empower youth to advocate for tobacco prevention. Since the death of his wife, Rick has been travelling the country to uncover and share the “Burning Truth” about the tobacco companies and their manipulation of the public. This event will also feature workshops to help participants learn about anti-tobacco issues, gain advocacy skills and offer opportunities to develop and present a plan of action to help create community change.

This FREE event, which is available to Maine youth in grades 7-12, is paid for by the Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine, which sponsors this event because it is committed to the power of youth voices in the anti-tobacco fight. The Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine aims to reduce tobacco-related death and disability in Maine by creating an environment supportive of a tobacco-free lifestyle.

“The Maine Youth Action Network, and the Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine, provides resources to youth and adults across the state to help make their action plans for change a reality.” ~TJ Williams; Youth Participant and Summit Youth Planning Team Member

MYAN is a program of PROP. The Peoples Regional Opportunity Program is a non-profit, multi-service, community action agency committed to transforming our community by helping people in need build better lives. MYAN is funded by a collaborative effort of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Office of Substance Abuse) and the Department of Education, supported primarily by the Fund for Healthy Maine and state general funds that match the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant. www.myan.org