Leadership and Advocacy Institute to Advance Minnesota’s

Parity for Priority Populations (LAAMPP)

By Jaime Martínez, Director of Community Development, ClearWay Minnesota, and Rod Lew, Executive Director of Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (Oakland, CA)

On June 22, President Barack Obama signed legislation that gives the Food and Drug Administration new authority to regulate tobacco products. This, along with the increase in smoke-free policies, might give the impression that we have won the fight against tobacco use.

However, communities of color, American Indians and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) community continue to bear the disproportionate burden of tobacco-related diseases. These communities have historically been neglected by the mainstream tobacco control movement when it comes to resources and tailored strategies for eliminating tobacco disparities.

American Indians, GLBT individuals and Southeast Asians have some of the highest rates of smoking in the country. African Americans face a much greater burden from lung cancer and other tobacco-related diseases. Unlike other cancers, lung cancer is usually diagnosed at a late stage, providing little opportunity for lung cancer survivors to become effective spokespersons against tobacco use. Commercial tobacco has been a silencer of our communities for decades, not only through the large number it debilitates and kills, but also through the devastating and disempowering effect tobacco has on the communities. 

ClearWay Minnesota^SM, a nonprofit that disperses a small portion of Minnesota’s 1998 settlement from the tobacco industry, recognized the need to engage communities of color, American Indians and the GLBT community in tobacco control from within their communities. However, ClearWay Minnesota’s earliest efforts taught the organization several valuable lessons about the disparities faced by communities in accessing, securing and maintaining funding for tobacco control work. In particular, it became clear that the system for applying for, managing and maintaining grant funds was designed for individuals and communities with decades of mainstream public health experience and not for community members just beginning to engage in tobacco control work.

“We recognized early on the need to enable leaders to arise from within communities,” said Jaime Martínez, Director of Community Development at ClearWay Minnesota. “We saw the opportunity to help develop and hone their skills, which could drive social change in tobacco control and even beyond to other critical issues in their communities.”

Enhanced leadership, knowledge and skills for engaging in and sustaining efforts in reducing the harm that tobacco causes our communities would, in time, enable community leaders to successfully find and compete for funding opportunities, and not just those offered by ClearWay Minnesota. Community leaders would be better able to create positive change in their communities and influence mainstream tobacco control efforts. Equally important, the change would be both systemic and sustainable.

With that vision in mind, ClearWay Minnesota contracted with Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL) to counter the silencing impact of tobacco and other health-justice issues on communities of color and create a unified “voice” for our communities. APPEAL, a national nonprofit, community-based organization based in Oakland, California, has trained over 600 individuals from diverse communities throughout the United States and the Pacific region using its culturally tailored leadership model. This model builds upon the strengths and the context of diverse communities, engaging participants in an experiential, collaborative and applied learning environment.

In 2005, ClearWay Minnesota funded a yearlong leadership institute—Leadership and Advocacy Institute to Advance Minnesota’s Parity for Priority Populations (LAAMPP)—for five communities. Thirty-two Fellows successfully completed the institute, and a comprehensive evaluation documented substantial increases in their knowledge of and skills in strategic planning, leadership, implementation of community projects and cross-cultural collaboration. A second LAAMPP, which was modified to reflect the evaluation findings, is currently being conducted. Although APPEAL has adapted the leadership model for addressing tobacco disparities in Washington and Oklahoma, ClearWay Minnesota is the only statewide tobacco control program that has invested substantial resources into leadership development for diverse communities.

The LAAMPP program has proven a great success. “It was life-changing for me,” said Patricia Baker, a 48-year-old Chicana Latina living in Maplewood, Minnesota. “After moving from Mexico, I had a great desire to work for a county government system but had not been successful. However, as a result of participating with the LAAMPP Institute, I was able to get a job in tobacco control in county government to work with my community. I love my job and I know my LAAMPP experience helped me get there—LAAMPP opened my eyes both professionally and personally.”

In Minnesota, communities of color represent about 14 percent of the state’s entire population. Traditionally, members of one community have not been supported in collaborating with other communities of color, which, in turn, marginalizes their work. LAAMPP provides a unique opportunity for new ways of working together that unites resources and empowers communities.

“I never imagined how important cross-cultural collaboration could be and how little we all knew about how to do that,” said Efren Maldonado, another LAAMPP Fellow. “LAAMPP helped us see the possibilities and guided us to do it in a real way.”

Leadership development is one of several strategies needed to address tobacco and health disparities. The evaluation of LAAMPP showed a tremendous impact in building leaders to address tobacco issues, but its impact on tobacco disparities remains to be seen. For now, LAAMPP is providing a voice for communities of color, American Indians and the GLBT community to address tobacco issues in Minnesota and serving as a model for the rest of the country.