CVS Health announced that it and its charitable foundations will give more than $10 million in 2019 to support youth smoking and e-cigarette prevention strategies and education.
The new commitment, funded through the company and the CVS Health and Aetna Foundations, is part of Be The First, CVS Health’s five-year $50 million initiative “to help deliver the nation’s first tobacco-free generation.”
“The spread of e-cigarette use among youth jeopardizes the progress made in reducing smoking over the last two decades,” said CVS Health Chief Medical Officer Troyen Brennan. “By collaborating with experts and aggressively investing in innovative strategies, we believe that we can help reverse this disturbing trend.”
The CVS Health Foundation is investing in a multi-year, multi-million dollar collaboration with Discovery Education to create and distribute standards-aligned digital curriculum resources for middle and high school students learn about e-cigarette use.
Additionally, a new two year, $2 million grant will be used to support a “first-of-its-kind quit vaping program,” developed by Truth Initiative
CVS Health and Foundation will also be supporting a number of classroom-based programs in 2019, as well as clinician training in local communities across the country.
“We are at a pivotal moment in our nation’s efforts to end the epidemic of e-cigarette use among children that is contributing to a rise in youth smoking,” said Eileen Howard Boone, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility and Philanthropy and President, CVS Health Foundation. “By collaborating with leading organizations across the public health community to implement more aggressive strategies, we can make a significant impact on the health of our next generation.”
Since launching Be The First in 2016, the company and the CVS Foundation have given more than $30 million in grants to organizations that provide an array of programming that support its focus areas.
Funded through CVS Health and the CVS Health Foundation, Be The First “is comprised of comprehensive anti-smoking education, tobacco control advocacy and healthy behavior programming” and is a major program within the company’s new $100 million “Building Healthier Communities” initiative.
