[C-U Smokefree] Updates from the Prez

[Scott Hays]

Happy Smokefree New Year!

I hope everyone has had a happy and smokefree holiday
season! Also, I hope your New Year's Resolution
involved seeing the cities of Champaign and Urbana
smokefree by 2007!

I want to invite everyone who receives this email to
attend our first regular meeting of 2006 which will
be:

Wednesday, Jan. 11, 5:30 pm
Tang Dynasty Restaurant, Lincoln Square Mall
Those who attend are welcome to purchase food or not.

This is a new meeting space for us - and is right
across from the council chambers in Urbana - where
we'll be turning our attention.

Last December, we had a successful smokefree gathering
for the holidays at Ned Kelly's and a special thanks
should go to John Schmidt, operating partner of Ned
Kelly's for hosting this event. Thanks, John!

As the New Year begins, there are several bits of
smokefree news.

Our strategy for now is to turn most of our attention
to Urbana in hopes that we can persuade their council
to take a leading role on this issue and become an
example for the city of Champaign.

To that end, we are hoping that either Urbana -- or
both cities together -- will be hosting a "town
meeting" on the smokefree issue as soon as February. 
Mayor Prussing of Urbana suggested this possibility
when members of our group petitioned Urbana last Fall.

Also, my unit at the University, the Center for
Prevention Research and Development (CPRD), will be
conducting more evaluations and assessments of
smokefree policies right here in the twin cities. 
These include a thorough examination of restaurant and
bar air quality in each city; an evaluation of the
impact of secondhand smoke on wait staff in bars and
restaurants; and a new public opinion poll with
representative samples of the population in each city.
 Most of this effort will be funded through the
Illinois Department of Public Health.

We welcome back Kristin Gibbs who will take the lead
on the air quality survey for Urbana as a Master's
Thesis project, and will probably lead the research in
Champaign as well.

Also, with the support of the American Lung
Association of Illinois, we will welcome two new
hourly employees/interns, the first of which has
already been hired. So we first welcome Vernon Cortez
Napue; a U of I student from Naperville! Vernon will
be working at an office at CPRD. One of his first
tasks will be to begin the research for a new "social
marketing" campaign targeting C-U to get out the
smokefree message. Vernon will also engage in
volunteer coordination, and will be helping to recruit
greater support from local businesses. We welcome
Vernon and you can look forward to meeting him at our
Wednesday meeting.

I hope to see everyone who can make it to our next
meeting at our new space in Urbana, and I wish one and
all a happy, healthy, and smokefree New Year!

CU Smokefree!

Scott

The Prez
778-2645
sphcusmokefree at yahoo.com
www.cu-smokefree.org



		
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