Engaging Youth for Positive Change

First, we brought the tobacco licensing ordinance up to speed. We conducted extensive research within our area for about two months. The research consisted of defining vendors bereft of licenses, possible opposition to the ordinance, public opinion (students/patents), and the government processes necessary to pass an ordinance. After we solidified our data, we worked with several county board members, the Sheriff, and the Office of the State's Attorney to fine tune our presentation and create allies within local legislation. We then presented the Ordinance to the County Board at one of their monthly meetings and gained support of several County Board members. Henceforth, we attended two County Board meetings each month for six months. Between meetings we individually spoke with County Board members to understand how the ordinance can be improved to cater to the needs of the County and continuously gathered opinions from vendors that the ordinance would affect. Despite some major logistical hurdles and conflicts of interest from the County Board, the message still resonated within the board. Approximately one year after its initial proposal, the ordinance was passed!