While youth vaping may be the topic on everyone’s lips, many high school students and adults use chew and other forms of smokeless tobacco. During Through With Chew Week, February 20-26, members of Reality Check groups in Falconer, Olean and Fillmore, New York, will raise awareness in their schools, as well as throughout their communities, … Continued 
A virtual movie event on “42,” The Jackie Robinson Story, spurred a lively Instagram Live discussion on multiple tobacco issues affecting our community and nation. On February 25, Reality Check youth from Western New York joined 100+ youth and community members from across the state to honor #BlackHistoryMonth. After watching the 42, they discussed how … Continued 
Reality Check of Western New York announced winners of this year’s student art contest in honor of the Great American Smokeout (GASO) 2020. More than 30 students expressed their feelings about Big Tobacco and how tobacco and vape use impacts their community. Warsaw High School student artist Payton Howe was named the first-place winner in the … Continued 
We can’t move into 2020 without a look back on 2019. In this post, we share the comprehensive perspective of our acclaimed leader, Dr. Andrew Hyland. As head of the tobacco control programs at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Director of the New York State Smokers’ Quitline, and researcher who has spent 25 years working … Continued 
With Christmas exactly one week away, we take you back to a time when Santa was a pitch man for Big Tobacco. Once upon a time, cigarettes were a Christmas present favorite – the gift that kept on giving (cancer). While kids were busy unwrapping their dolls and toy cars, dad was opening his carton … Continued 
Reality Check groups of Western New York recently came together at Beaver Hollow in honor of World No Tobacco Day on May 31. On the youth summit agenda were three days of ice breaking, team building, and s’more eating, just to name a few of the highlights. Group activities and workshops prepared youth advocates to … Continued 
120 teen leaders from New York State took on Altria Group executives and shareholders on May 16th. Their actions, centered outside the Richmond Convention Center, Richmond, Virginia, and areas nearby, focused on why the tobacco giant baited consumers and public health officials with the promise of withdrawing pod-based nicotine products from the market in order … Continued 
Convenience stores in Allegany County, New York, are plastered with tobacco advertising. That’s what Reality Check youth from Fillmore Central High School discovered in their recent Kick Butts Day store tour. Teen leaders honored the national day of activism, sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and celebrated annually in March, by investigating 20 convenience stores in … Continued 
The stars made quite a scene on Oscar’s red carpet this year. Community health partners and Reality Check youth leaders from across Western New York upstaged them with a fashionable statement of their own: let’s get the smoking scenes of the screen. Here’s a photo gallery of our communities commemorating International Week of Action, an annual … Continued 
YAYA winner. That’s what we’re calling Olean High School senior Olivia Lang these days. She was recently chosen among hundreds of fellow youth leaders as New York State’s Tobacco Control Youth Advocate of the Year. This award, sponsored by Reality Check of New York State, honors the outstanding work of the youth advocate who has led the way in advocating for … Continued 
