When Black Youth Leadership Project Youth advocate Fxxii Irvin spoke before a packed room Feb. 26 at Sierra Health Foundation, he didn’t begin with statistics.

Instead, he spoke about watching smoking shape behavior in his community and how marketing, normalization, and access influenced choices long before people understood the health consequences.

“We have to operate collectively in our environments,” Irvin said, urging shared accountability for protecting future generations.

His testimony was shared at the third Faith in Health Collaborative Summit, organized by the SOL Project, where conversations focused on tobacco harm, targeted marketing, and community-led solutions.

“Black communities continue to be disproportionately targeted by the tobacco industry,” said Kimberly Bankston-Lee, founder and executive director of the SOL Project. “Our mission is to protect and advance the health of African Americans and other marginalized populations through tackling the impact of commercial tobacco through policy change, community participation, and culturally grounded education.”

According to the California Department of public health, while California’s overall smoking rate has dropped below 10%, public health experts note that about 80-85% of Black smokers nationwide use menthol cigarettes, a product linked to higher addiction rates and more difficulty quitting. Menthol products also have been heavily marketed in Black neighborhoods for decades.

The summit’s theme, “Black Health in 2026: Strengthening Our Future Through Smoke-Free Living and Community Care,” framed tobacco not only as a health issue but also as one connected with faith leadership, housing, youth protection, and systemic equity.

Keynote speaker Gregory Bolden, community initiatives program manager with the Center for Black Health and Equity and the California Black Health Network, urged attendees to see tobacco prevention as a movement rooted in culture, history, and faith.

“This work has always been driven by people coming together for the common good,” Bolden said. “If we want real change, we have to listen and move collectively.”

Faith Leaders Advancing Smoke-Free Living

For many clergy in attendance, smoke-free living was framed as both a moral and public health responsibility.

Pastor Tecoy Porter, senior pastor of Genesis Church Sacramento and president of the National Action Network Sacramento chapter, emphasized that tobacco disproportionately harms families facing housing and economic stress.

“Smoke-free living is about honoring the whole person. Body, mind, and spirit,” Porter said. “It’s about protection and empowerment.”

Pastor Deborah Simmons, co-founder of South Sacramento Christian Center and a longtime health advocate, said: “My desire is prosperity and health. People perish for lack of knowledge, and this work ensures knowledge reaches our communities.”

Reverend Dr. Joy Johnson, founding pastor of Higher Hope Christian Church and a nurse by training, said churches must expand their understanding of ministry to include physical wellness.

“We are community pastors,” Johnson said. “Our responsibility goes beyond our congregations to the neighborhoods we serve.”

Pastor Dominique Beaumonte, founding pastor of Reconciliation Church, challenged faith communities to stop avoiding difficult conversations around tobacco and addiction.

“When we talk about what harms our community, we are accountable not just for what we say but what we avoid saying,” Beaumonte said. “Some things require prayer and action.”

Together, faith leaders positioned churches as trusted hubs for education, prevention, and policy advocacy, not solely as places of worship.

Community Care In Action

While faith leaders addressed prevention and moral leadership, health officials focused on access to care.

Savannah Robinson, community relations professional with Anthem Blue Cross Medi-Cal, outlined free cessation resources available to Medi-Cal members in Sacramento County.

Anthem serves nearly 250,000 Medi-Cal members locally and offers access to evidence-based quitting tools at no cost, Robinson said. One is the EX Program, developed by the Truth Initiative and Mayo Clinic. The personalized system offers home delivery of medications to help quit smoking, nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, and live support.

Robinson also pointed residents to Kick It California, which offers free quit coaching and nicotine replacement therapy statewide.

She also pointed out the importance of primary care visits. “Primary care visits are literally the backbone for a person’s overall health,” she said. “If someone wants to quit smoking, they should tell their doctor. They can authorize medication and make referrals to behavioral health.”

But access alone will not close equity gaps, advocates said.

Rhonda Smith, executive director of the California Black Health Network, said the organization has worked for decades to improve health outcomes for Black Californians.

“I strongly believe that individuals have to take ownership and be empowered to take charge of their health,” Smith said. “But we also have to protect access.”

She noted that Black Californians face a life expectancy gap of about 6-6¹/₂ years compared to other residents, a gap worsened by COVID-19.

“If we’re losing access to preventive services,” she said, “it’s incumbent upon us to figure out what we can do to create a safety net.”

The network now operates Covered California navigation services statewide to help residents enroll in health insurance and maintain coverage.

“We really have to work together collectively,” Smith said. “We cannot afford to lose people we love.”

Beyond individual behavior change, summit leaders underlined that smoke-free living must include structural protections for residents in multi-unit housing.

Secondhand smoke does not stay contained within one apartment. In many buildings, shared ventilation systems and close quarters allow smoke to drift between units, exposing children, elders, and non-smoking neighbors to increased risks of asthma, heart disease, and lung cancer.

Leila Gholamrezaei-Eha, project director for the tobacco prevention program at the Fresno County Department of Public Health, pointed to successful policy models in Fresno as an example of community-led change.

In Fresno, she explained, residents worked alongside local public health officials using a community action model, engaging tenants, educating landlords, and building consensus before pushing for smoke-free protections in multi-unit housing.

“They didn’t start with punishment,” said Gholamrezaei-Eha of the approach. “They started with conversation, education, and bringing people to the table.”

She emphasized that tenant voices shaped the policy process, helping ensure that smoke-free rules were framed around health protection rather than criminalization.

“People want to breathe safely in their own homes,” she said. “That’s the foundation.”

Panelists acknowledged that some residents are afraid of retaliation from property managers or worry about enforcement. Advocates clarified that smoke-free housing policies are typically civil measures, not criminal penalties, and are designed to protect public health while giving support and cessation resources.

Speakers suggested Sacramento could learn from cities such as Fresno that centered community education before policy adoption, a model that promotes trust and sustainability.

The discussion’s message was consistent: smoke-free living must extend outside individual quitting efforts to include housing equity, tenant protections, and community-driven systems change.

Engaging Youth

Youth prevention took center stage as speakers warned that nicotine addiction is evolving and becoming harder for adults to detect.

According to the 2024 California Youth Tobacco Survey, about 6.4% of high school students statewide currently use a tobacco product, including vapes and nicotine pouches.

Berry Accius, founder and executive director of Voice of the Youth, a Sacramento-based youth advocacy organization, described how vaping devices have quietly reshaped nicotine use among teenagers.

“These devices are small. They don’t smell like cigarettes. You can’t see the smoke,” Accius said. “A lot of parents and even schools don’t know what they’re looking at.”

He emphasized that normalization, not rebellion, is often the driver.

“When something feels common, when it’s marketed in ways that look harmless or even cool, that’s when it spreads,” Accius said.

Lorreen Pryor, president and CEO of the Black Leadership Project, echoed that prevention must be proactive rather than reactive. She stressed that many young people are navigating stress, trauma, and social pressure without consistent adult guidance.

“If we don’t step in early with truth and support, the industry will step in with marketing,” Pryor said, underscoring the need for culturally responsive outreach.

Kayla Green, a trauma-informed youth advocate and therapist, said misinformation fuels risk. 

“There’s a belief that vaping isn’t really smoking,” Green said. “But addiction doesn’t look the same anymore, and that’s part of the danger.”

Green, who also serves as a program coordinator for Voice of the Youth, noted that many youth turn to nicotine as a coping mechanism for anxiety, stress, or unaddressed trauma.

“We can’t just tell young people, ‘don’t do it.’ We have to give them healthier tools,” Green said.

Speakers agreed that protecting youth requires honest conversations, stronger policies, and adults willing to confront decades of targeted tobacco marketing that continues evolving.

As the summit concluded, organizers emphasized that while smoking rates may be declining overall, tobacco’s impact remains uneven.

For advocates such as Irvin, the urgency is clear.

“This isn’t abstract,” he said. “It’s our families, our kids, our future.”