Recap: February 8 strategy workgroup summary session and next steps

Dear Grantees, We are glad many of you were able to join us on February 8 to review more than 30 ideas that came out of the Strategy-Focused Feedback Workgroups held in January. The focus of the small workgroups was to hear grantee feedback on potential new and innovative strategies to help inform planning for the next funding cycle. The small workgroup format was developed with grantee feedback to help foster a comfortable and effective environment for collaboration. We are grateful to all grantees and STEPP staff who gave generously their time and expertise to quickly organize and hold these workgroups, and then bring back their experiences and engage with us in shared learning. A total of 11 workgroups were held across program goal areas: Foundational Tobacco Prevention/Capacity-Building Work, Goal 1 (Keep Young People Tobacco-Free), Goal 2 (Protect People & the Environment), and Goal 3 (Expand Support for People Quitting). Workgroups were co-led by STEPP grantees and project officers, with support from TA providers.

February 8 Meeting Highlights

• STEPP project officers and grantee co-leads presented top ideas generated by each workgroup with participants for reflection and discussion.
• Participants shared insights, observations, and questions to explore and further clarify workgroup ideas.
• Grantees participated in polling for each goal area topic to gather one more data point on what will help advance health equity in Colorado tobacco control.
• STEPP reviewed upcoming activities as the program continues to prepare for the next funding cycle. We will use the poll results from the February meeting to see themes in priorities and use the range responses to help identify possible opportunities within the current LHA core framework. The results will also be included in collective stakeholder input that will help inform the next phases of decision-making for the FY24 funding cycle.
• Meeting slides and poll results are available below.

Next Steps for Grantees & STEPP

• Our next grantee meeting takes place on February 23. The focus of the meeting is to begin discussions about the next cycle of LHA core tobacco work. We will introduce some new concepts that we want to explore together with you that are designed to help better structure the work and to leverage and build upon grantee and community strengths and capacity. We hope you are able to attend. Join the February 23 meeting here.
• STEPP is planning additional, dedicated engagement with community partners to take place in the coming months. We will share updates, including what we learn from community partners, with grantees and stakeholders.

Thank you, The STEPP team