RISE – Statewide Rural Coordinating Center

RISE (Rural Initiatives Strengthening Equity) supports rural tobacco projects by leveraging resources, providing leadership training and opportunities, and offering educational materials specifically designed to assist rural communities.

The project works to:

(1) create and disseminate a Policy Platform to community champions and key stakeholders through regional and statewide meetings and policy summits;

(2) support and train tobacco control leaders from rural communities with its statewide Rural Advisory Committee and its rural leadership development program;

and (3) build capacity within rural communities to engage in tobacco control policy advocacy by organizing learning institutes with non-traditional partners such as law enforcement, tribal stakeholders, and environmental groups.