Saying thank you
The Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota (ANSR) marked the end of an era in January 2014, and celebrated the work of Brittany McFadden, an innovator in the public health field and smoke-free air movement.
During her 13 years, McFadden created ANSR’s Tobacco Free Youth Recreation (TFYR) and Live Smoke Free programs. TFYR focuses on smoke-free outdoor air, while Live Smoke Free works on smoke-free, multi-unit housing policies. At the time, each program was groundbreaking and among the first of its kind in the nation. While at ANSR, McFadden’s work resulted in 100-plus Minnesota parks adopting smoke-free policies. Hundreds of multi-unit buildings went smoke free, resulting in thousands of Minnesotans being protected from secondhand smoke.
McFadden has been a true leader in the smoke-free air movement and has traveled around the nation to mentor other public health advocates. Members of the public health community came out to praise one of its best champions and reflect on McFadden’s accomplishments.
What they said
“Brittany played the leading role in creating and directing two of ANSR’s most successful programs, Tobacco Free Youth Recreation and Live Smoke Free. Both of these programs became, and remain, national leaders and set the standard for others to emulate.” - Jeanne Weigum, ANSR president
“During her tenure at ANSR, Brittany has been a true advocate for smoke-free venues throughout Minnesota. Brittany was the main author of the manuals for those programs. They are now considered Bibles within the Tobacco Prevention Community. She is an innovative, self-motivated, talented individual, who has been instrumental in providing clean indoor and outdoor air to Minnesotans. Brittany has received national recognition for her efforts.” - Lisa Marshall, ANSR Board Member
“Brittany is an amazing individual who had dedicated the past 13 years to making Minnesota a healthier place to live, play and work. She led the tobacco-free youth recreation program, creating 100-plus tobacco free parks in Minnesota, setting the standard for tobacco-free outdoor areas in the nation. When Brittany took on smoke-free multi-unit housing, she had a vision of what the program would look like. I remember how simple the smoke-free apartments program was before Live Smoke Free was created. She advocated for funding, successfully received funding and created a top-notch smoke-free apartments program that is now nationally recognized.Brittany has shown tremendous dedication, passion and commitment in creating environments free of tobacco and secondhand smoke. Her “can do” attitude, energy and passion has transferred to many advocates she trained on parks and housing.” - Katie Engman, ANSR Program Director
“Not only is Brittany incredibly talented, she is simply a wonderful person, and I feel grateful for her friendship. When I think of all she has done for tobacco control in Minnesota, it is truly amazing. She built TFYR in a way that has impacted so many park systems across the state, and that work even expanded to fair grounds and zoos. It became a model for others to follow across the country. She repeated this act with smoke-free multi-unit housing, and many lessons from that program were applied to Smoke-Free Lodging. All of these are top-notch tobacco control initiatives because of the passion, dedication and thoughtfulness she personally invested to ensure that they would be high quality and effective. Because of her work, social norms were changed, and thousands of people have been impacted with a reduction in secondhand smoke exposure. And thousands more will continue to be positively impacted for generations into the future due to the lasting policy work she created and supported.” - Pat Stieg, ANSR Board Member
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