Commercial Tobacco Use
Youth E-cigarette Prevention and Cessation Initiative

The 2021 Minnesota Legislature appropriated funds for the Minnesota Department of Health to administer a new initiative to address youth e-cigarette and other commercial tobacco product use and cessation. The initiative includes community grants, statewide technical assistance and training, coordinated counter-marketing campaign, and surveillance and evaluation. The overall goal of this initiative is to reduce youth e-cigarette and commercial tobacco use in Minnesota by 25 percent by 2026.

Community Grants

The Minnesota Department of Health has selected 10 new community grantees as part of the new Youth E-cigarette Prevention and Cessation Initiative. These grantees will work to develop and engage youth as essential partners to raise awareness and change social norms and behaviors around youth e-cigarette and commercial tobacco use.

Community grantees include:

• Association for Nonsmokers - Minnesota
• Horizon Public Health
• Indigenous Peoples Task Force
• Lincoln Park Children and Families Collaborative
• myHealth for Teens & Young Adults
• Northfield Healthy Community Initiative
• Olmsted County Public Health Services
• Sierra Leone Community in Minnesota
• Something Cool, Inc
• Steele County Public Health

This grant program is a comprehensive, statewide effort to reduce youth e-cigarette and commercial tobacco use. It will leverage existing youth programs to make sustainable changes to community policies, practices, systems, and environments. Grantees will integrate factors of mental well-being that contribute to reducing commercial tobacco use among youth and participate in local and statewide communications efforts.

Technical Assistance and Training Grant

ACET, Inc. has been selected as Technical Assistance and Training (TA) Provider to lead and coordinate statewide youth engagement activities, convene collaborative efforts with grantees and other partners, and support the grantees in capacity building efforts. Their work will be an integral part of a new Youth E-cigarette Prevention and Cessation Initiative.

ACET’s technical assistance and training grant started May 1, 2022 and will provide services for two years.

About ACET, Inc.

Founded in 1998, ACET, Inc., is a woman- and minority-owned small business enterprise based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ACET honors and integrates the cultural knowledge, values, and experiences of the communities they serve. ACET helps organizations imagine and create solutions to document and understand progress, more effectively deliver on goals, and plan for lasting impact. ACET’s work includes creating culturally tailored networks and innovative technical assistance and training.

ACET supports organizations serving youth and adults in communities of color, American Indian communities, LGBTQ+ communities, youth and adults experiencing substance use disorder or mental illness, and youth and adults in rural areas in addition to small towns, suburban areas, and urban areas.

Learn more: ACET, Inc. – Culturally Tailored Services

Counter-Marketing Campaigns

This initiative includes counter-marketing campaigns to engage youth as essential partners and raise awareness and change social norms around e-cigarette and commercial tobacco use in their communities. These campaigns will also enhance nicotine cessation promotion and communication activities aimed at youth and young adults who vape nicotine and promote resources on mental wellbeing.

Learn more: Youth Counter-Marketing Campaigns

Learn more

• Commercial Tobacco-Free Communities Grant Program
• Prevention and Treatment | Commercial Tobacco Use
• My Life My Quit^TM
• Request for Proposals for Community Grants (PDF)
• Request for Proposals for Marketing Services (PDF)
• Request for Proposals for Technical Assistance and Training Grant (PDF)