June 2025 Partnership Convening

Are you looking to improve your school’s policy and response to tobacco use, but aren’t sure where to start? Youth vaping is a serious public health concern and schools are at the center of the storm. Marisa Katz, with the Public Health Law Center, will be joined by Jessica Morton, of the NH Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program, to talk about what it takes to adopt Tobacco Free Model School Policy for grades K – 12 and implement evidence-based prevention and early intervention strategies for ‘tweens’, teens, and young adults.

They’ll dive into the essential components of a policy that holds students accountable for their behavior while reducing out-of-school suspensions, building strong bonds and making academics a priority. The talk will cover the core aspects of the policy, what to do with waste, emphasize the importance of other environmental control measures, focus on their recommendation of graduated, supportive enforcement, and finish up with Q & A. Whether you are making modifications to improve your tobacco use policy or drafting it for the first time, you don’t want to miss this convening.

Presenters

Marisa Katz is a senior staff attorney at the Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She provides legal technical assistance on commercial tobacco control policy matters to public health organizations, legal professionals, and advocates throughout the United States. Marisa was formerly a litigator for eighteen years, primarily representing consumers in class action litigation in federal and state courts nationwide.

Jess Morton, Health Communications Specialist, with the NH Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program, has worked on multiple mass media campaigns and has worked to enhance the programs youth prevention and adults’ tobacco cessation efforts. Today she will be sharing tools and resources that schools and other youth serving organizations can use to work on reducing the vaping issues occurring in their communities including the newly launched youth campaign called More Good Mornings. Jess has been working for the State of New Hampshire for over 20 years.  Over this time, she has worked as an outreach educator providing services and information to NH residents regarding topics from drinking water, asthma, clean air, and tobacco use. When Jess is not working you will find her coaching baseball and softball and volunteering at her son’s school.  Helping and teaching others is her passion!