Opening Remarks and Network Overview: Advancing Tobacco Control in West Virginia
Kim Caldwell, senior program manager at the Center for Black Health and Equity, leads an interactive introduction to power mapping. Power mapping helps community organizations identify who has the authority, influence, relationships, and resources needed to move a public health issue forward. The exercise encourages participants to look beyond elected offices and recognize the influence held by pastors, healthcare leaders, educators, coalition members, and other trusted community voices.
The workshop uses the vape shop location and operating ordinances adopted in Beckley and Raleigh County as its primary example. Participants discuss the problems that led to the ordinances: brightly lit, visually distracting storefronts; vape shops sited near young people; and the growing presence of vaping products in the community.
Caldwell guides participants through identifying the problem, setting short-term and long-term goals, collecting community evidence, and locating people who can support or influence the next step. The workshop emphasizes that passing an ordinance is a major accomplishment, but continued education, documentation, coalition building, and enforcement are necessary to produce lasting change.