Engaging Communities Through Schools and Housing to Reduce Teen Smokers in NYC

In New York City, about 15,000 public high school students smoke cigarettes and more than 200,000 children encountered secondhand smoke at home (“The smoking rates,” 2017). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims one-third of these students may die prematurely because of direct smoking consequences (“The smoking rates,” 2017). The tobacco industry targets teens with advertising. Studies prove that one-third of juveniles’ experiment with smoking is derived from advertisements (“The Toll of Tobacco,” n.d). New York City has the highest rate of exposure to second-hand smoke in the United States. According to the NYC Health, 37% of people who reside in the city are exposed to second-hand smoke as opposed to the national rate being 24%. (Smoking and Tobacco Control Laws. n.d). Every year 12,000 people are killed by tobacco in New York City and these deaths are preventable (“Health Department,” 2018). On average, New York State households spend $1,430 for health care costs related to smoking, and the State’s health care cost is $10.39 billion annually caused by direct smoking (“The Toll of Tobacco in New York,” n.d.)