Our Approach
Just like many other systems and institutions in our society, the tobacco and vaping industries have used practices for decades that are rooted in racism. We know that we cannot do this work without directly addressing that.
Over the years, the goal of The 84 became to center the experience and value of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) in all areas of our programming. To do this, we first needed to analyze where white supremacy culture was operating in our program and work to make changes to create a program rooted in anti-racism.
Workshops like Tobacco 101 were overhauled with a BIPOC perspective and our mini-grants shifted to a racial justice focus, allowing communities to design their own plan for the funding. In addition, we made it clear when and how people could request accommodations or translation services to participate in our trainings. We adjusted our logo and colors to make them more accessible to all.
Our staff regularly incorporates it into their goals to do their own anti-racism education, which is never complete. Quarterly reviews to reflect on what anti-racist strategies we have implemented became the norm, as are follow-up conversations about where we could further dismantle white supremacy culture.
Our Statewide Leadership Team is also included in the anti-racist efforts. They designed workshops that addressed identity, types of racism, structural barriers BIPOC experience, etc. They also take part in a Spring Identity Series, which meets as a large group and in affinity spaces (white group and BIPOC group) to discuss issues around racial and other identities that they do not necessarily have a space to talk about openly.