New York, Feb. 3, 2025 – Global Action to End Smoking, a leading authority in the fight to end the global smoking epidemic, announced that in late 2024 it had approved first-of-their-kind grants to the National Harm Reduction Coalition and Studio of the Americas. Both grants have been made for the charitable purpose of actualizing impactful ways to raise awareness of the toll of smoking in historically marginalized populations and to educate these groups on comprehensive cessation strategies.
These two grants fall under Global Action’s Cessation Education area of grantmaking. Grant work that falls within this category educates people who smoke and their health care providers on the most up-to-date guidance from leading health authorities on holistic approaches to smoking cessation. These types of grants also seek to correct widespread misinformation in this complex area. Global Action has supported several charitable projects with this focus since the organization’s inception in 2017 and has increased its concentration in this area since last year. In 2024, Global Action approved approximately $7.5 million in grants for projects within Cessation Education, furthering its charitable mission to help people stop smoking and live healthier, longer lives.
"Global Action is proud to support the life-saving work of the National Harm Reduction Coalition and Studio of the Americas. These two groups exemplify our focus on supporting historically marginalized populations and the unique challenges they face to quit smoking and improve the health and well-being of their communities."
The National Harm Reduction Coalition is an advocacy and capacity-building organization that promotes health and dignity for individuals and communities impacted by drug use. Individuals who currently or previously have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder in the U.S. are more than three times as likely to also use combustible cigarettes than the general population.
With Global Action to End Smoking’s grant support, the National Harm Reduction Coalition will develop and implement smoking cessation education programs within its network of traditional harm reduction organizations and providers. These programs will be tailored to meet the needs of people who use drugs and provide information about a variety of smoking cessation approaches including the potential value of the use of reduced-risk tobacco products as a harm reduction strategy.
“We are grateful to be able to expand the depth and reach of our harm reduction programs with support from Global Action. By including education on nicotine use risk reduction, we are increasing the overall health impact of our existing harm reduction programs by meeting people where they are."
Studio of the Americas is a new film studio focusing on telling the stories of the First Peoples who inhabited the Americas. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Indians and Alaska Natives have a smoking rate of 27.1% — higher than any other racial or ethnic group in the U.S, and more than twice the rate of the general population.
Global Action’s grant to Studio of the Americas will help create the documentary film Smoke Alarm. This film will explore the effect of commercial tobacco use, as opposed to traditional ceremonial use, within Indigenous populations and the excessive health burden this causes. The film will be narrated by actor Eugene Brave Rock and feature members of Native American communities sharing their experiences.
“Smoke Alarm will be a dramatic story with a powerful message, made possible by a charitable grant and the enlightened thinking of Global Action,” said Clifton Chippewa, chairman and co-founder of the Studio of the Americas.
About Global Action to End Smoking
Global Action to End Smoking is an independent, U.S. nonprofit 501(c)(3) grantmaking organization whose mission is to accelerate science-based efforts worldwide to end the smoking epidemic. It is dedicated to ending combustible tobacco use, which remains the leading preventable cause of death globally. Historically, Global Action received funding through PMI Global Services. As of Sept. 2023, Global Action and PMI terminated their original pledge agreement, and Global Action formally adopted a policy not to seek or accept funding from companies that produce tobacco or non-medicinal nicotine products. Global Action has earned the 2024 Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid, a leading global source of information about nonprofit organizations.