Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Southern Coalfields Tobacco Prevention Network

  • Project Title: Spit it Out
  • Program Representative Interviewed: Donald Reed, 4-H Extension Agent, West Virginia University Extension Service
  • Location: Welch, West Virginia
  • Program Overview: The Southern Coalfields Tobacco Prevention Network is a network of six county coalitions in rural West Virginia. The network provides individual county coalitions with policy guidance and presents a unified effort for tobacco control and prevention in the region. The network focuses on promoting tobacco-free policies, reducing tobacco use among dual tobacco users (users of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco), and preventing initiation of tobacco use among elementary school students. The network also provides outreach to special populations in the region that are disproportionately affected by tobacco use, such as coal miners and pregnant women who smoke. A recent anti-smokeless tobacco program, Spit it Out, was successful in providing tobacco cessation services to hundreds of community members and facilitating the adoption of tobacco-free policies in five workplaces.

Models represented by this program: