ALTUS - The Southwest Oklahoma Community Action Group Inc. lead agency is pleased to announce that they have been awarded a five-year Communities of Excellence grant from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

The Communities of Excellence grant program challenges local coalitions to create comprehensive programs to reduce tobacco use in their communities.

Southwest Oklahoma Community Action Group Inc. was selected by the coalition to serve as the lead agency for the grant and will receive about $75,000 in the first year of the grant program. Red River Tobacco Education Consortium will provide matching funds of $7,500, or 10 percent of the grant award.

The grant will officially begin on Oct. 1. The first year of the grant will be a planning phase in which the coalition will develop a strategic plan to be implemented over the next four years of the program.

The next step will be to come together as a community to develop a detailed plan to help reduce the risk of tobacco use and tobacco-caused disease.

The goals of the Communities of Excellence program are to have communities in which public places and workplaces are tobacco-free, community organizations and events reject tobacco industry sponsorship, schools adopt tobacco-free policies and implement strong anti-tobacco curriculum, health care providers routinely refer tobacco-users to accessible and culturally-appropriate cessation services, businesses adopt tobacco-free policies and provide insurance coverage for tobacco cessation, and local tobacco-related ordinances are enforced.

Currently, Southwest Oklahoma Community Action Group Inc. is starting the fourth implementation year of a five year grant award from Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust to address tobacco prevention and use in Jackson County. 

Tobacco use remains the state's leading preventable cause of death, killing about 5,700 Oklahomans each year - more than AIDS, alcohol, illegal drugs, murders, suicides and auto accidents combined.