Youth group Evolvement briefs Tobacco Settlement Revenue Oversight Committee on commercial-tobacco prevention

Members of the Tobacco Settlement Revenue Oversight Committee heard a presentation by the youth advocacy group Evolvement about the group’s commercial-tobacco prevention and advocacy work.

Jackson Simpkins, a student at El Dorado High School, and Andrea Gorypaga, a senior at Cuba High School and member of the Evolvement Leadership Team, spoke about the organization’s activities. “I’ve been with Evolvement for 3 years,” Simpkins said. Andrea Gorypaga said Evolvement is funded by “the nicotine use and prevention and control, also known as the new pack program,” and that, since 2010, the group has trained more than 4,000 high school teens to be advocates in schools and communities.

Presenters described the group’s subject focus and scope. Simpkins said Evolvement’s campaigns “focus specifically on commercial tobacco and respect and do not regulate traditional or ceremonial tobacco,” adding that traditional tobacco “has been used in sacred ways by Native Americans for centuries” and “there are no chemical additives in traditional tobacco.” The presenters distinguished commercial tobacco—described in the presentation as produced for recreational use, containing chemical additives and linked with death and disease—from traditional or ceremonial tobacco.

The committee received the presentation; no motion or formal action was recorded during the portion of the meeting reflected in the transcript. Committee members thanked the presenters for traveling to speak to the committee.