Tobacco is the nation’s number one cause of preventable deaths, and the American Legacy Foundation is the national foundation dedicated to fighting it. The American Legacy Foundation is an organization that is dedicated to building a world where young people will not start using tobacco, and anyone can quit. Legacy was established in March 1999 as a result of a master settlement agreement between attorney generals from 46 states and the tobacco industry. Legacy is funded mainly by the payments designated by the terms of that agreement.

The foundation headquarters is located in Washington D.C. Legacy develops national programs that address the effects of tobacco use through grants, technical training, strategic partnerships, youth activism, and community outreach programs. Prevention of tobacco use among young people is a top priority for Legacy. The foundation’s work to reduce the amount of tobacco use includes a major national tobacco youth prevention and an educational effort known as the Truth program. This program gives teenagers information about the effects of tobacco use and encourages youth to do as much as possible to inform their peers about the negative effects of smoking.

Another program that is funded by the American Legacy Foundation is the Street Theory program. This program helps facilitate the work done by state-run youth activism programs. The foundation provides grants to support initiatives in tobacco control. National calls for proposals are issued annually to address a variety of tobacco prevention issues. The foundation has a mandate to fund state and local public programs.

Legacy also has established the priority population initiative that uses the money that was collected from the tobacco industry to assist communities that have been targeted by tobacco companies and have been impacted by tobacco use.

The American legacy foundation has been very active in publishing the once secret 40 million pages of documents from the tobacco industry. It has made this shocking information accessible to the public through its extensive research database. “This research shows us that tobacco isn’t just killing years down the road,” said the foundation’s President and CEO, Cheryl Healton, “It is killing today, and its silent, innocent victims are children.”

Legacy has also been very instrumental in making sure the provisions laid out in the master settlement agreement (MSA) have been followed. The guidelines in this agreement required that all tobacco billboard advertisements be taken down, that tobacco companies stop using cartoon characters to sell cigarettes, and that tobacco companies make many of their internal documents available to the public.

The MSA also ordered that a foundation – The American Legacy Foundation be established to counter the tobacco industry. A public foundation focused solely on tobacco, Legacy educates Americans about the perils of tobacco use and generates a public dialogue to empower people to reject tobacco and live tobacco free lives. For more information about the American Legacy Foundation visit their website www.americanlegacy.org

Ryan Menefee is an East Lansing High School Junior and a participant in the Young Publishers Club sponsored by the Michigan Bulletin which meets at the Magic Johnson Foundation Creation Station located at the Black Child and Family Institute - 835 W. Genesee, Lansing MI.

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