Springfield College to Create Tobacco-Free Campus

Springfield College has been awarded a grant as part of the American Cancer Society and the CVS Health Foundation’s Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative (TFGCI), a $3.6 million multi-year program intended to accelerate and expand the adoption and implementation of 100 percent smoke- and tobacco-free campus policies. Springfield College is one of the first 20 colleges and universities to receive a TFGCI grant.

Over the next three years, colleges and universities throughout the United States will be awarded TFGCI grants to support their efforts to advocate for, adopt and implement a 100 percent smoke-and tobacco-free campus policy. Campuses will also receive technical assistance and resources to support their efforts with education, communications, cessation and evaluation.

“We’re honored to be one of the first colleges to receive this pioneering grant and look forward to using these critical new resources to enable our tobacco prevention task force to successfully promote the adoption and implementation of a strong 100 percent tobacco-free policy on campus,” said David Hall and Miriam Siegel, co-chairs of the Springfield College Smoke- and Tobacco-free Campus Implementation Committee. “Protecting the health and wellness of our faculty, staff, students and visitors and creating a healthier and cleaner campus environment is a very high priority.”

On Jan. 1, 2017, Springfield College will join 1,427 other institutions of higher education in the United States in becoming a smoke-free and tobacco-free campus. Throughout November, smoke-free/tobacco-free signs will be installed around the campus. Internal signage in all campus buildings will be installed soon after. Additionally, a new web page for the Springfield College smoke-free/tobacco-free initiative (springfield.edu/smokefree) will be launched.

This TFGCI grant announcement coincides this week with the American Cancer Society Great American Smokeout on Thursday, Nov. 17, an intervention effort to encourage smokers to quit for a day, quit for good, or make a plan to quit. TFGCI is part of Be The First, CVS Health's new five-year, $50 million initiative that uses education, advocacy, tobacco control, and healthy behavior programming to help deliver the nation’s first tobacco free generation and extend the company’s larger commitment to help people lead tobacco-free lives. CVS Health has set actionable and measurable goals for Be The First, including a doubling of the number of tobacco-free college and university campuses in the United States. In 2014, CVS Health became the first, and remains the only, national pharmacy chain to eliminate the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products from its stores.

“We’re at a critical moment in our nation's efforts to end the epidemic of tobacco use, but we know we can’t do it alone," said Eileen Howard Boone, senior vice president for corporate social responsibility and philanthropy for CVS Health, and president of the CVS Health Foundation. “Through the power of partnership and by increasing the number of tobacco-free colleges and universities, we can contribute to the progress being made where a tobacco-free generation in the U.S. seems possible, and not a faraway dream.”