Jun. 7--Community-health agencies statewide learned this week that grant contracts with the former Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation will not be honored by the Ohio Department of Health.
The state agency mailed 54 letters last week, breaking the news to public health departments, hospitals, medical centers and others that rely on tobacco money.
Current grants will stop June 30, leaving many agencies and roughly 400 employees in the lurch. The funding loss will affect tobacco-prevention efforts in schools, community coalitions, cessation treatments and health programs that help the state's minority and impoverished residents.
"Basically, everything statewide is shutting down," said Shelly Kiser, spokeswoman for the American Lung Association of Ohio.
After reviewing the defunct tobacco foundation's contracts, the state Health Department terminated awards because it does not have the funds to give, spokesman Kristopher Weiss said.
Last month, Gov. Ted Strickland signed a bill to dissolve the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation and divert $230 million of its $270 million endowment to a statewide economic-development package. The $40 million balance was to be transferred to the Health Department.
But the money is frozen while the American Legacy Foundation, a Washington-based anti-smoking group, fights in court to gain control of the endowment money.
Meanwhile, agencies funded by tobacco grants are scrambling to find a way to continue existing programming, Kiser said.
The loss is significant for the Fairfield Department of Health, which oversees grants for Fairfield, Hocking, Licking, Perry, Pickaway, Ross and Vinton counties.
The department had anticipated receiving $473,820 during the next three years. "I know there are some counties that have already laid employees off, (and) others that are doing their best to try and retain their employees," said Pat Navin, director of community health development.
The Delaware General Health District expects to lay off two employees at the end of the month.
In Licking County, health educator Mary Siembida said much of her grant-funded work has been focused on teaching children and teenagers the dangers of smoking.
"It's kind of scary, not just because of jobs being lost but because of our youth being exposed to this," Siembida said. "Tobacco companies aren't going to stop advertising."
Although the Franklin County Board of Health did not receive grant money from the former foundation, it served as a helpful resource for education and communication, said Susan Tilgner, health commissioner. "We'll feel a loss."
dwilson@dispatch.com
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