APA HEALIN’ Releases “Planting Seeds of Change” Report with Funding from APPEAL

In New York, APPEAL partner, APA HEALIN’ (Health Eating and Active Living in our Neighborhoods) has been busy sharing their recent publication, “Planting Seeds of Change: Strategies for Engaging Asian Pacific Americans in Healthy Eating and Active Living Initiatives.”

In New York, APPEAL partner, APA HEALIN’ (Health Eating and Active Living in our Neighborhoods) has been busy sharing their recent publication, “Planting Seeds of Change: Strategies for Engaging Asian Pacific Americans in Healthy Eating and Active Living Initiatives.” In the report, APA HEALIN’ summarizes the findings of surveys, informant interviews, and the explorations of a Photovoice project on the challenges around healthy eating and active living in New York City’s Asian American (AA) and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities. The coalition is now sharing the policy recommendations and strategies for inclusion in the report with a variety of food reform and public health stakeholders in an effort to ensure that AAs and NHPIs are included in broader initiatives on healthy foods and built environment.

APA HEALIN’ received funding from APPEAL as part of the National Asian American and Pacific Islander Network to Eliminate Health Disparities (NAPNEHD) Project. You can see the full report, including the policy recommendations here.

LAAMPP III Institute

The Leadership and Advocacy Institute to Advance Minnesota’s Parity for Priority Populations (LAAMPP) launched its third cycle in September of this year. The LAAMPP Institute works with Minnesota’s diverse communities to build capacity for effective tobacco control. Twenty-five community leaders were selected to participate as fellows in the Institute and represent the following communities: Africans/African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Chicanos/Latinos, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT).

The Leadership and Advocacy Institute to Advance Minnesota’s Parity for Priority Populations (LAAMPP) launched its third cycle in September of this year. The LAAMPP Institute works with Minnesota’s diverse communities to build capacity for effective tobacco control. Twenty-five community leaders were selected to participate as fellows in the Institute and represent the following communities: Africans/African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Chicanos/Latinos, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT).

To kick off this cycle, fellows participated in their first core summit training to build skills in five core areas — advocacy, collaboration, cultural and community competence, facilitation, communication, and expanding tobacco prevention and control capacities. LAAMPP fellows and coaches left the summit feeling energized and motivated to create change in the tobacco control movement. Jinny Johnson, a new LAAMPP Fellow said, “[The] LAAMPP Institute is pushing me to challenge my thinking about how I work across different communities to drive social change and become a stronger advocate and person. LAAMPP is really opening my eyes to new people and their stories and showing me that we all have pieces of each other’s stories in our own..”

The LAAMPP Institute is adapted from the APPEAL Leadership Model. Funding and support for LAAMPP is provided by ClearWay MinnesotaSM and the Minnesota Department of Health.

Asian Smokers’ Quitline Now Available Nationwide

The Asian Smokers’ Quitline, the first cessation service developed specifically for US smokers who speak Asian languages, is now available for free nationwide telephone assistance for Cantonese-, Mandarin-, Korean- and Vietnamese-speaking callers who want to quit smoking.

The Asian Smokers’ Quitline, the first cessation service developed specifically for US smokers who speak Asian languages, is now available for free nationwide telephone assistance for Cantonese-, Mandarin-, Korean- and Vietnamese-speaking callers who want to quit smoking.

Callers can speak with a bilingual/bicultural counselor to receive help with quitting smoking, informational materials and referrals to other sources. Those who call will also receive a two-week starter kit of nicotine patches.

In a study with over 2,200 Asian-language speakers, researchers show that the Asian Smokers’ Quitline is an effective cessation resource. “Overall, telephone support [provided by counselors on the Asian Smokers’ Quitline] doubled participants’ odds of quitting,” said principal investigator Dr. Shu-Hong Zhu.

Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is funding the University of California, San Diego for only one year to operate the quitline. APPEAL hopes that the quitline will receive funding for further years, so that community members have continued access to culturally-tailored cessation resources. A high volume of calls to the quitline in this first year is extermeley important to demonstrate that Asian Americans will use this resource. APPEAL would like to encourage all of our partners to promote the Asian Smokers’ Quitline in your respective communities.

For more information about the Asian Smokers’ Quitline, please visit: www.asiansmokersquitline.org.

The Asian Smokers’ Quitline is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 9 p.m. and the phone numbers for those who want to quit are:

APPEAL Stakeholders Meet to Launch National Advisory Committee and Set Strategic Priorities for Network

In September 26, 2012, APPEAL convened a group of stakeholders from across the US and Pacific Islands working towards Asian American (AA), Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) health parity in the healthy eating and active living (HEAL) and tobacco control movements.

In September 26, 2012, APPEAL convened a group of stakeholders from across the US and Pacific Islands working towards Asian American (AA), Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) health parity in the healthy eating and active living (HEAL) and tobacco control movements. At the meeting, APPEAL’s stakeholders launched APPEAL’s new national advisory committee, which formed to provide direction for APPEAL and its network members. Thirty APPEAL partners from AA and NHPI communities and allies from foundations and health departments discussed priorities for established and emerging tobacco and HEAL issues for our communities. “I enjoyed coming away with a set of priorities for the network,” said one participant, after attendees had engaged in a discussion to prioritize items from APPEAL’s policy recommendations and develop action steps for future work addressing the tobacco and obesity epidemics in AA and NHPI communities.

“Insight from our newly formed advisory committee is extermeley helpful in directing APPEAL’s work to connect, support and build upon on the expertise and strengths of our network partners,” said APPEAL Executive Director Rod Lew. In the midst of a changing policy environment, meeting attendees shared ideas about how to address new challenges and opporutnities, such as engaging new partners in the tobacco control and healthy eating and active living movements, dismantling institutional racism and encouraged each other to learn about and share successes with partners in the APPEAL network.