Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States. In Hawai‘i alone, smoking claims 1,400 lives each year and creates $526 million in annual healthcare costs.

Since 2000, the Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF) has administered the Hawai‘i Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund under a contract with the Department of Health (DOH). Since its inception, the state has achieved significant declines in smoking rates for both adults and youth.

In partnership with the DOH, HCF implements a statewide comprehensive tobacco prevention and control program consistent with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s best practices. This includes state and community interventions (advocacy efforts and prevention community grant program), health communication interventions, cessation interventions (Hawai‘i Tobacco Quitline and My Life, My Quit) and a cessation community grant program), surveillance and evaluation, and administration and management.

HCF’s Adult Cessation grant program supports community-based cessation programs that assist adults in priority populations (persons with mental health and/or substance abuse challenges, LGBTQ+ communities, and low socio-economic status populations) to end tobacco use.

2024-2028 Tobacco Cessation Grantee Cohort

Aloha House
Big Island Substance Abuse Council
Community Clinic of Maui: Mālama I Ke Ola
Hāmākua-Kohala Health Center
Hawai‘i Health & Harm Reduction Center
Hawaiʻi Island Community Health Center
Ho‘ola Lahui Hawai‘i
I Ola Lāhui
Kapi‘olani Health Foundation
Lāna‘i Community Health Center
Mālama Pono Health Services
Wai‘anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center
Wahiawā Health
Waikiki Health
Waimānalo Health Center

HCF’s Youth Prevention grant program supports community-based organizations that work to prevent the initiation and use of electronic smoking devices (ESDs) by Hawai‘i youth under age 18. The grant program is based on the Stanford Tobacco Prevention Toolkit’s Hawaiʻi version of You and Me, Together Vape-Free, comprised of culturally relevent lesson plans to equip youth with skills to reduce experimentation and use of ESDs.

2024 - 2026 Youth ESD Prevention Grantee Cohort

After-School All-Stars
Big Island Substance Abuse Center
Bobby Benson Center
Boys and Girls Club of Hawai‘i 
Boys and Girls Club of Maui
Hamakua-Kohala Health Center
Hawai‘i Friends of Restorative Justice
Hawai‘i Island Community Health Center
I Ola Lahui
Keala Foundation
Lanai CHC
Salvation Army
The Island of Hawai‘i  YMCA
Wahiawa Center for Community Health

 More information on Hawai‘i’s tobacco prevention and control efforts: