Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death nationwide. In Indiana, which has among the highest smoking rates in the U.S., an estimated 11,000 people die each year from smoking. While smoking-related illnesses generally occur in older ages, smoking starts much earlier. When kids turn 18—or their friends turn 18—and they have access to cigarettes, it’s easy to start and get hooked. It’s unsurprising then that nearly 90 percent of current adult smokers first started the habit before they turned 19. One solution that’s being tested in more than 270 cities and counties in 18 […]

Claire Fiddian-Green is the President & CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. As part of our effort to prevent substance misuse among young people, the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation today announced a $1.15 million investment to help 29 Marion County K-12 schools implement drug prevention programs. The five grant recipients are the Metropolitan School Districts (MSD) of Warren and Washington Townships and public charter schools Urban ACT Academy, Ignite Achievement Academy and Indianapolis Academy of Excellence. These grants are part of our Prevention Matters initiative, which the Foundation launched in January 2018 as a three-year effort to help Marion County schools identify, implement and sustain evidence-based substance use prevention programs. The […]