Problem/Objective: Communities struggle to create an advocacy activity that is created at a grass roots level. If an activity is created, buy-in is not always there and the activity can not always be implemented by youth and adults. This session is designed for tobacco-control professionals who seek to integrate youth advocates at the local and state levels. Professionals ranging from grassroots community-mobilizers to state-level program managers would benefit from this workshop.

Methods: The Get R!EAL Statewide Marketing and Promotions Committee, comprised of Get R!EAL youth leaders, researches, designs and coordinates statewide tobacco-related activities that promote the goals of Get R!EAL. By incorporating the empowerment and the youth-adult partnership model into our public health work, this group of youth leaders has created eight statewide advocacy events since 2003.

Results: Committed to supporting a youth-led movement, Get R!EAL has successfully developed a youth-adult partnership model for designing and implementing youth advocacy activities that adults can implement as well. In this workshop Get R!EAL will share their outcomes from the eight “Advocacy in a Box” activities that were implemented in the last four years.

Conclusions: Advocacy activities that are youth designed can be pre-packaged. “Advocacy in a Box” is fast, simple and has mass appeal. Participants will have a greater understanding of how to integrate youth advocacy into comprehensive tobacco-control programs and will have access to youth designed advocacy activities that have impacted policy on an informal and/or formal level.