NC Child brought together a group of Wake County high school students in 2016 who wanted to work together to advocate for themselves and their peers. With the help of Youth Empowered Solutions (YES!), that group had a huge impact on tobacco policies in Wake county schools. Their work helped propel statewide action to curb the impact of vaping on North Carolina teens. In 2019 the Wake County group grew to 8 members, and we launched a new chapter of youth advocates in Wayne County.
In 2018 the Wake County School Board updated the Tobacco Free School policy, thanks to the work of the NC Child Youth Advocacy Council. Check out Council members in action presenting on tobacco prevention at a 2018 Wake County School Board Meeting: Go to the 55:00 mark of this WRAL video.
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To learn more about the Youth Advocacy Council, please reach out to La-Mine Perkins, NC Child’s Community Engagement Specialist at (919) 726-6394 or lamine@ncchild.org.
