On September 13th and 14th, 2016 affiliate staff from DC, Atlanta and Philadelphia completed their Professional Development Training as part of the newly awarded CVS smoking cessation project, Empowered to Quit!

Empowered to Quit aims to assess the tobacco usage and quitting habits among African-Americans in 3 target markets while also offering educational workshops and counseling for individuals wanting to quit tobacco. The Greater Washington Urban League served as the host facility for the training and catering was provided by one of their Entrepreneurship Center small businesses, Feast in a Basket Catering.

Affiliates began implementing programmatic activities (delivering educational workshops, spreading tobacco prevention and quitting literature and offering cessation counseling services) on October 1st.