WINTERVILLE A $7,500-grant is giving a Pitt Community College task force the opportunity to explore the possibility of a smoke-free campus while raising awareness of the health risks posed by tobacco products.
According to PCC Student Support Manager/PCC Global Director Amelia Martin, funding from Truth Initiative a nonprofit public health organization dedicated to eliminating tobacco use is supporting “efforts to advocate to the student body, faculty and staff for a smoke-free PCC in the future.”
Martin is heading the committee tasked with ensuring the campus community is aware of the consequences of smoking and secondhand smoke in addition to the benefits of stopping tobacco use.
“The goal of the grant is to get enough support from the student body to present a smoke-free policy to the PCC Board of Trustees for consideration,” she said. Many of the policies have been adopted at four-year universities.
In order to reach more community college students and employees, Truth Initiative created a grant program and made funding available to institutions, like Pitt, that do not currently have 100 percent smoke-free campus policies in place.
Truth Initiative reports it has already awarded $274,730 in grants to 54 public community colleges in 25 states across the country. Massey, who has been PCC’s president since 2003, was honored for more than a decade of service to AMEXCAN.
Following the ceremony, Massey thanked the organization for his award and praised the group for its work in the community and partnership with PCC.
“I am pleased that Pitt Community College can work with AMEXCAN by coordinating space for offices at the Bernstein Center in addition to programming, including language training and workforce development, to serve Latino residents of northern Pitt County at this location,” Massey said. I will do everything I can to promote our continued collaborations.”
AMEXCAN, which serves Pitt and 15 other eastern North Carolina counties, is committed to “fostering the appreciation, understanding and prosperity of the Mexican and Latino community through advocacy, culture, education, health and leadership.”
In addition to organizing cultural expos and conferences, AMEXCAN promotes awareness of educational opportunities for children and adults, distributes valuable health information, develops active civic participation of Latino leadership in social affairs, and serves as an advocate for the welfare of Latinos in North Carolina.
According to AMEXCAN Executive Director Juvencio Rocha-Peralta, community-based organizations like AMEXCAN depend on the community to accomplish the work they set out to do. “To take time from their families, work and little free time to make a community a safer, cleaner and a more opportunistic place for everyone is no less than heroic.”
In addition to PCC, AMEXCAN’s community partners in Pitt County include the City of Greenville, Pitt County Schools, East Carolina University, and the Pitt County Health Department.
Tickets to Wednesday’s MLK Scholarship Tribute Breakfast on sale now
Tickets to the fifth annual Martin Luther King Scholarship Tribute Breakfast at PCC are still available.
The event, which will take place Jan.
