Key Points: Youth Empowerment in Action! (YEA!) is a multi-disciplinary school-based community research project that focuses on tobacco prevention for middle school students. This project is in its second year and the poster will present results related to the youth-led media productions and public advocacy initiatives that are artifacts of our first year of implementation.

Learning Objectives:

• Public Policy and Advocacy- Students used the Project Citizen model to identify tobacco policy issues in their community, research alternatives, develop a policy proposal to address the issue and present their initiative to their community leaders.

• Media and Communication Strategies- Students used a media literacy lens to examine tobacco messaging, and produced their own small media messages that addressed their understanding of tobacco issues and supported their tobacco policy initiatives to members of their community.

• Tobacco Cessation and Prevention- Students participated in an academically-integrated curriculum that addressed tobacco health risks, tobacco company manipulation of media and research, environmental hazards of tobacco use, and tobacco policy initiatives and difficulties.

Benefits:

• Empowering youth to engage their community in discourse about tobacco and health issues allows for significant knowledge gain and an orientation towards tobacco control and self-efficacy.

• Youth-led advocacy programs garner community support and the attention of legislators towards issues relating to tobacco control.

• Students gain sophisticated knowledge about tobacco issues beyond their initial understanding that tobacco has health risks.