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A RE@L Conversation With Elyse Less, Executive Director of The Minnesota Tobacco Free Alliance
EL: I’m the executive director of Tobacco-Free Alliance. I’ve been with the Tobacco-Free Alliance for more than four years, which is an offshoot of the Association for Nonsmokers Minnesota (ANSR), a non-profit organization that’s been around for more than 30 years. We work closely with partners like ANSR and other organizations, many of them part of the Minnesotans for a Smoke-free
As you know, you have an educational tool, 1Up On Vaping, that engages kids to learn about
EL: We also do parent workshops on the topic of ways parents can engage their teens in
EL: One of the most important parts of our work is engaging youth to become tobacco prevention advocates. Having an older peer talk to teens about the healthy things that they do
EL: We really want to continue to build the peer-to-peer network and have peers educate
EL: Up to this point, public health was doing really well lowering youth tobacco start rates, which was the key to defeating nicotine addiction overall. And then along came e-cigarettes. National data from 2020 shows youth smoking at a low
Thank you, Elyse Less and the Tobacco-Free Alliance for making us stronger together!
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Randy Nelson
Author
Randy Nelson is a retired educator of 38 years. He served students as a high school speech, theater, and English teacher. He served colleagues as a director of curriculum and instruction; and, most recently he served the La Crosse, WI school district as its superintendent of schools. He has a strong leadership track record promoting choice and innovation via unique community partnerships. He currently serves RE@L, inc as its Director of Education.