FY27 has already been a busy year for the MHOA Tobacco Program. Here are a few highlights:
In mid-July we welcomed Megan daCosta as the Assistant Director of the Tobacco Program. Megan will be working with KC Dufour, our Inspector/Trainer, in revising our training program. She is also the point person for local boards that are not part of a regionally funded tobacco program and need assistance with retail store inspections and/or youth access compliance checks.
To date, MHOA is either in the process, or has awarded capacity-building mini grants to twelve municipalities or SSAs to assist municipal/SSA staff in conducting their own tobacco retail store inspections. Plans are underway to release another round of mini-grants to supplement the retail store inspections that MHOA will be conducting in many municipalities. MHOA will be conducting youth access compliance checks in all mini grant recipient municipalities.
Forty-four municipalities have fully executed MOUs with MHOA for direct services: retail store inspections and/or youth access compliance checks. MHOA’s inspectors are now out in the field conducting inspections and youth access compliance checks. We expect this work to wrap up by the end of April.
Training is an import part of the scope of services for the grant received from the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program. Along with training for health department staff, MHOA has developed virtual training videos for retail store owners and their employees. Viewers can either watch the full-length training (about 16 minutes), or they can watch the training in seven short segments by topic. These trainings are currently available in English, Spanish, Gujarati, and Hindi, with the possibility of additional languages being added. Please take a few minutes to view these trainings at https://mhoa.com/aws/MHOA/pt/sp/tobacco-control-program
It was great to see many of you at the Annual Conference in Springfield. We had some great conversations. If you have any questions that we can help you with or you would like more information about the mini grants, please contact us at tobacco@mhoa.com
MHOA is currently accepting applications for a Part-Time Tobacco Program Inspector. View the job description here.
Application Deadline: December 31, 2026.