On Wednesday, August 3, the Town of
Sahuarita Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously voted to make all town parks tobacco-free. The vote resulted from the hard work by students from Anza Trail, a tobacco prevention youth coalition, whose efforts over the past three years led to a formal recommendation to the Parks and Recreation Commission to ban the use of tobacco in local parks.
Although the students’ goal of tobacco-free parks has been in the works for several years, significant progress was made during the last school year. Members from
Anza Trail Student Wellness Advocacy Team’s (SWAT) Tobacco Prevention Youth Coalition, working in conjunction with SWAT members from Walden Grove High School and Empire High School in Vail, organized many events leading up to the commission meeting.
All three of the schools that participated in the efforts are part of a statewide anti-tobacco youth coalition for Arizona teens, called
Students Taking a New Direction (STAND). These young advocates, along with their schools’ wellness coordinators and Pima County Health Department mentors, spent many hours conducting cigarette butt clean-ups, collecting data, creating timelines, and surveying residents in order to gather information and gain support for their goal.
Moving forward, Anza Trail SWAT and their mentors will serve as a health and wellness resource for the Town of Sahuarita. As a result of the new town policy for tobacco-free parks, students and mentors are drafting documents that highlight tobacco-free park sign placement. In addition, they are also taking steps to enhance and promote the Sahuarita Adopt-A-Park program.
Exciting things are in store for the future of Anza Trail SWAT! Make sure to follow Anza Trail SWAT on Facebook for future updates on their anti-tobacco youth coalition goal. If you are interested in resources to quit tobacco, please visit the
Pima County Tobacco Prevention and Cessation webpage.
The Pima County Health Department is dedicated to ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of our community through leadership, collaboration, and education. Visit the Health Department website, on
Facebook or on
Twitter.
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