Last Updated: October 2025

Author: Tobacco Control Program, Vermont Department of Health

The Vermont Department of Health funds 6 tobacco community coalitions, down from 12 in FY2022 and 14 in FY2021. Each year, reductions in available funding mean fewer resources are directed to local coalitions, limiting the reach and impact of tobacco prevention and cessation efforts at the community level.

A Tobacco Control Program, per the CDC 2014 Best Practice Guide, aligns state and local initiatives to produce protective measures that, over time, reduce tobacco initiation and use, support successful tobacco cessation, and limit exposure to secondhand smoke. However, as resources shrink, the capacity of community coalitions to sustain these evidence-based strategies is increasingly strained.

Community support and involvement at the grassroots level in educating on effective policy and planning interventions can result in the adoption of content-neutral advertising laws and smoke-free public and private environments. At the state level, statutes can limit youth access, exposure, and use of tobacco, while supporting adults in never starting tobacco use or quitting if they do. Yet, diminished funding reduces the ability of communities to carry out this critical prevention and policy work.

The program’s technical assistance seeks to enhance and guide the community coalitions' efforts by playing a key role in providing resources that will aid in successful implementation of workplan activities. Still, with declining funds, the scope of support and innovation is narrowing.

The Vermont Department of Health seeks to provide support to community coalitions through:

• Providing best practice guidance and technical assistance

• Giving feedback on community coalition tobacco workplans and quarterly reporting

• Arranging trainings and strategy sessions among the coalitions

• Coordinating site visits with coalitions

• Providing presentation templates, data, and other resources for tobacco coalitions at community events and presentations

Together these performance measures focus on whether Vermonters are better off as a result of Health Department's Tobacco Control Program. They do so by looking at the quality and efficiency of these programs and services. This performance measure is important because it measures HOW MUCH the program and its partners are doing in terms of community engagement for tobacco prevention.

• Community grantees: Tobacco-funded grantees create yearly work plans with local point of sale objectives, smoke- and tobacco-free objectives, earned media and several other activities.
• Office of Local Health (OLH) : The Vermont Department of Health operates 12 District Offices located throughout the state. Tobacco-funded grantees collaborate with the office of local health personnel in their service area to provide support for implementation of grantee work plan activities.
• Quarterly workgroup consisting of Attorney General's Office, Department of Liquor and Lottery, Agency of Education and the legal and policy team of the Department of Health. Together we identify and work together on emerging issues, such as new tobacco products, violations, rise in youth use of e-cigarettes among other issues.

According to CDC’s 2014 Best Practice Guide, state and community coalitions are essential partnerships to achieve tobacco control and prevention statewide goals. Research has demonstrated the importance of community support and involvement at the grassroots level in implementing several of the most highly effective policy interventions.

The Vermont Tobacco Control Program in collaboration with the Office of Local Health, provides technical assistance through feedback and input on coalition workplans, quarterly reports and meetings such as trainings with content experts, strategy sessions, and site visits. In the spirit of peer learning, the program has been inviting coalitions to share their growing expertise, successes and challenges with each other.

• The program will continue to support tobacco coalitions with the technical assistance needed on a one-on-one basis through site visits, trainings, networking meetings, and monthly check-ins in collaboration with Office of Local Health staff as available.