Our work

Our work at a glance:

• Community Engagement: Funding is provided to nearly 200 local health departments, nonprofit agencies, and community-based organizations serving counties and cities throughout California. These local and statewide organizations engage community members, educate elected officials, and create policy change crucial in important on-the-ground work to prevent and reduce tobacco use.
• Education and Awareness: Our public health education and awareness campaigns use thought-provoking ads to expose the ways that Big Tobacco deceives, manipulates, and targets California communities and educate all Californians on the dangerous impact of tobacco exposure, from deadly secondhand smoke to toxic tobacco waste to the dangers of vapes and oral nicotine pouches. We produce education campaigns in seven languages – English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tagalog – to reach California’s diverse populations. Explore UNDO’s campaigns.
• Surveillance, Research, and Evaluation: UNDO is a data-driven program. Adult and youth tobacco knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors are tracked through phone, school, and online surveys. These surveys monitor progress and illustrate emerging challenges – like new products being used – which enables us to tailor our education efforts. Evaluation of tobacco prevention components are used to determine which strategies are most effective in protecting Californians.
• Cessation: We help Californians quit tobacco by providing free cessation assistance in six languages, and for the hearing impaired, through Kick It California; and through efforts to improve awareness, access, and availability of cessation support offered by the health care system, health care plans, and employers. California’s emphasis on increasing and supporting quit attempts is the result of 30 years of proven, science-based strategies. Find resources on quitting at Kick It California.