RD84 - Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation 2009 Annual Report


Executive Summary:
During the last decade, the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation helped cut youth smoking almost in half in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Because of our great success at reaching youth, FY 2010 will see us taking on a new initiative: childhood obesity prevention. And our expanded mission will bring a new name: the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth.

In 2009, the Virginia General Assembly voted to give the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation responsibility for statewide efforts to reduce and eliminate childhood obesity in addition to our existing mission of preventing and eliminating youth tobacco use. This exciting, challenging new mission makes sense because tobacco use and obesity are now the two leading causes of preventable deaths in the United States.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S., where one out of three children is now obese or overweight. Here in Virginia, where more than 60 percent of adults are overweight or obese, it’s no different. Childhood obesity can lead to serious, lifelong health problems previously only seen in adults such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

As we begin addressing childhood obesity prevention, we will forge new partnerships and collaborations, both public and private, in an effort to arrest this alarming public health threat.

More importantly however, this new mission gives us the opportunity to make a greater impact on the overall health of Virginia youth, teaching them to how to make healthy choices that will last their entire lives.