Counter Tools recently began a new partnership with Community Advocates Public Policy Institute, an organization based in Milwaukee, WI. We will be helping them assess tobacco and alcohol retailers in their community to understand how harmful products are being marketed and sold.
Community Advocates’ primary mission is to ensure that low-income families and individuals in the community are able to meet their basic needs. Its Public Policy Institute was established in 2008 to address the root causes of poverty through advocacy and community mobilization around economic and public health issues.
In our partnership, we’re helping Community Advocates in coordination with the City of Milwaukee Tobacco-Free Alliance, Milwaukee County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition and 53206 Drug-Free Communities Project to assess retailers in Milwaukee County to see how they’re marketing and selling tobacco and alcohol products. Our team is providing training and guidance on data collection and the retail landscape, tools for collecting data, and will help Milwaukee determine solutions to reduce the impact of these harmful products. Community Advocates is especially focused on assessing e-cigarette products, as well as flavored tobacco products, as we know young people are increasingly using these products and gain access through retailers in their local communities.
We’re excited to work at a local level in Wisconsin in our partnership with Community Advocates. Counter Tools has partnered statewide with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services since 2016 to assist with data collection and analysis, and support change related to tobacco, alcohol, and food products in the retail environment. Read our related Wisconsin success story – Addressing and Improving the Landscape of Food and Alcohol Products in Stores.
