Tobacco is a Social Justice Issue: The UpRISE story

Tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. The impacts of tobacco use show up more in certain populations that are intentionally targeted by the tobacco and vape industry. On top of the inequitable burden of death and disease on communities, the industry causes irreversible harm to the environment, manipulates government, and skirts laws designed to reduce its impact—making tobacco not only an issue of health, but one of social justice. This training provides examples of how the tobacco industry abuses it’s power. It also describes the UpRISE youth movement, and how it is intentionally designed to amplify the voices of young people targeted by tobacco companies, to identify and address the root causes of nicotine use.

Building and Maintaining a Youth Board:

From building a youth board from the ground up to supporting long term youth engagement, this training focuses on practices that support authentic power sharing between youth and adults. Learn how to set young people up for success, embrace your role as an adult coordinator, and best practices for retention. The training closes with tips from young people on how to be a good adult partner.

Virtual Youth Engagement:

UpRISE’s Virtual Youth Engagement Sustainability Training provides tips to keep virtual meetings engaging for young people and suggests activities using the core principles of the Social Justice Youth Development framework. While the training was created to help guide adult coordinators working with youth in local youth coalitions, it would be useful to anyone looking to create an engaging online environment.

A Justice-Centered Approach to Dilemmas in Youth Work Practice

Authentically partnering with young people is full of complexity, and nuance. Given the multiple dimensions of power that operate in this work, dilemmas of practice arise. In this training, we provide a justice-oriented framework for navigating dilemmas in youth work. This training expands upon Larson the & Walker’s (2010) study that identified practices of expert youth workers in addressing dilemmas. Our additions to this framework focus on centering justice and equity. The training opens with an introduction to the expanded framework, and then, provides two real-life situations experienced by seasoned youth workers. For each scenario, we propose possible actions youth workers can take in addressing dilemmas of practice that center relationships, healing, accountability, and justice.