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i r r Playing Tobacco Free: Tobacco-Free Policies For Park & Recreation Facilities Tobacco free park and recreation The Tobacco-Free Youth Recreation Initiative areas promote health Tobacco-Free Youth Recreation(TFYR) is Minnesota's statewide • Parks are established to promote healthy activities. The recreation-based tobacco prevention program that assists recreational purpose of park areas is to promote community wellness, groups in promoting healthy tobacco-free lifestyles. TFYR offers and tobacco-free policies fit with this idea. assistance in tobacco-free policy development and implementation • Secondhand smoke harms everyone. Secondhand smoke and also distributes materials that promote the tobacco-free sports is a human carcinogen for which there is no safe level of message throughout Minnesota. exposure. Exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate health consequenses such as asthma attacks and other res- Policy adoption assistance piratory diseases. & FREE signs available through TFYR • Secondhand smoke is harmful in outdoor settings. Ac- TFYR offers municipal park&recreation departments techni- cording to Repace Associates,secondhand smoke levels in cal assistance in tobacco-free policy development. To help with outdoor public places can reach levels as high as those policy implementation,TFYR provides 12"x 18"metal blue& found in indoor facilities where smoking is permitted. white tobacco-free signs for FREE to Minnesota cities that adopt • Cigarette litter is dangerous. Discarded cigarettes pol- comprehensive tobacco-free policies for their outdoor recreational lute the land and water and may be ingested by toddlers, facilities (limit 100 per community). pets,birds or fish. • Tobacco free policies help change community norms. To qualify for the signs,the tobacco-free policy Tobacco-free policies establish the community norm that must include: tobacco use is not an acceptable behavior for young people • A list of all the facilities it covers. or adults within the entire community. • A statement that all forms of tobacco use u are prohibited. IOnIWI i Why are Minnesota cities adopting • An enforcement plan that includes tobacco-free park policies? a)community and staff notification;and Tobacco-Free Signs b)signage. • Most Minnesotans support tobacco free park and rec- reation policies. A 2004 University of Minnesota survey Contact TFYR staff(see below left)for policy adoption assistance. found that 70%of Minnesota residents support tobacco-free Once a policy has been adopted in your community, send a copy of park and recreation areas. In addition, 66% of golfers and the policy and a completed sign order form to TFYR. Download an 73%of families with children support these policies. order form from our web site at<www ansrmn.org>. • Policies provide consistency among community athletic facilities and groups. The majority of community sporting Minnesota Cities with Tobacco-Free events are held at either city or school district athletic facili- outdoor Recreational Facilities ties, and nearly all school districts prohibit tobacco use on Altkin Eden Prairie . Nwd Yng America • Andover • Edina . Owatonna their entire grounds.Also,many community athletic associa- . Anoka • Elk River • Pelican Rapids tions have policies but use city recreation facilities and would • Aurora • Eveleth . Plymouth Austin • Faribault . Prinsburg benefit from a city-wide policy. . Baxter • Fergus Falls • Ramsey • Biwabik • Golden Valley . Richfield Policies reduce litter and maintenance costs. In a 2004 Bloomington Grand Rapids 0 Robbinsdale • Brainerd • Hibbing • Rochester survey,58%of Minnesota park directors in cities with poli- , Breckenridge • Hoyt Lakes . Rock County cies reported cleaner park areas. • Brooklyn Center • Int'I Falls . Roseville • Buhl • Kent . Sartell Tobacco free environments promote positive community Champlin Luverne Savage • Cloquet • Mahtomedi • Shoreview role modeling and protect the health, safety, and welfare of • Cohasset • Maple Grove • Spicer Coon Rapids • Maplewood . St.Cloud community members. . Crookston • Marshall • St.Paul • Duluth • Monticello • Virginia • Eagan • Morris . Willmar Association for Nonsmokers--Minnesota Eagle Lake Mountain Iron Wolverton 2395 University Ave.West, #310 • New Brighton • Zimmerman St. Paul, MN 55114-1512 (651)646-3005;tfyr@ansrmn.org April 2005