| Voice | |
| Founded Date: | 2002 |
| Location: | Statewide, Indiana |
| Focus: | VOICE is a statewide initiative to engage, educate, and empower teens to celebrate a tobacco free lifestyle. |
VOICE is Indiana's statewide initiative to eliminate teen smoking. According to their mission statement, VOICE seeks to, "engage, educate, and empower youth as leaders and advocates in their communities through sustained youth-adult partnerships."[1]
Indiana has one of the highest-ranking youth smoking rates in the country. Currently, 22.5 percent of Indiana's youth are regular smokers and 9,800 youth pick up smoking each year. Estimates by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids state that 160,000 youth in Indiana today will die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses. These stats, along with many others, are part of the driving force behind the Voice mission.[2]
In the last few decades, several documents have surfaced from inside the tobacco industry, showing the tobacco industry's longstanding practice of marketing their products towards youth. Some highlights include:
Voice began with a 20-member Youth Advisory Board, ages 15–17, which offered input about likes and dislikes of teenagers in Indiana. This Youth Advisory Board assisted in developing a statewide youth-led tobacco prevention movement beginning with a statewide summit in early 2002. The challenge was to drive down the 39 percent of Indiana's high school students that smoked. This summit produced some of the initial ideas for youth activism.
Highlights of other events and accomplishments include: