Tribal tobacco policy successes

What is it about?

Tribal Nations in Minnesota share a past of attempted cultural genocide and a present of restoring the strength of their cultural teachings, including the prominence of traditional tobacco as a sacred First Medicine. The Tribal Tobacco Education and Policy (TTEP) initiative addresses this complex and challenging context. TTEP Coordinators with deep experience and connections to their tribal setting, used their cultural knowledge to develop community-level strategies, identifying appropriate strategies from best practices on tobacco advocacy, while drawing on the strengths of their own sovereignty and sacred tobacco traditions. This article describes results of a participatory evaluation from 2010 to 2013 in four Minnesota Tribal Nations—three Ojibwe and one Dakota.

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Why is it important?

Very few efforts have been successful at creating authentic public health partnerships that allow tribal Nations to direct their own efforts to achieve health equity. The TTEP project was funded by ClearWay Minnesota, the foundation formed through the historic tobacco settlement. They provided support directly to tribes and took steps to expand their own learning and awareness regarding the key issues of traditional tobacco use and tribal sovereignty. This article describes how tribal coordinators were able to create smoke-free policies and move toward cultural norm changes on tobacco use in their Nations.