Tobacco-Free Jacksonville is the community partnership of adults and youth working together to prevent youth tobacco use and youth exposure to second-hand smoke whereby youth conceive and carry out tobacco prevention. The purpose of the Tobacco-Free Jacksonville Coalition, Inc. is to promote a tobacco-free atmosphere for Duval County residents, to improve the health of Duval County residents and all Floridians though:
- Significantly reducing tobacco use through prevention, education, cessation and policy promotion.
- Decreasing environmental tobacco smoke through education and policy promotion.
Tobacco-Free Jacksonville Coalition is a resource for public education on the health effects of tobacco and smoking prevention. Tobacco-Free Jacksonville Coalition supports legislative actions against tobacco.
MEMBERS
Meet our leadership. Want to become a member?
Our current board members are serving a two-year term, 2022 - 2024.
Chair: Ansley Lee
Ansley Lee, a New England native, moved to Florida from South Carolina in early 2020. After being with the American Heart Association (AHA) in South Carolina for more than two years, Ansley moved into her role as Vice President of Health Strategies in Jacksonville. In her role Ansley is responsible for driving the health goals of the market in areas such as hypertension control, food security and tobacco and vaping. This work is done in collaboration with many community organizations, the First Coast Board of Directors and the many other volunteers through population-level and sustainable, policy, systems and environment changes. Before working at AHA Ansley worked for BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina in various roles and has experience marketing and communications, provider services and corporate wellness.
Vice-Chair:
Kelsey McKenna
Kelsey McKenna graduated from University of Miami with a BS in Public Health with a focus on Human and Social Development. Following college, she moved to Jacksonville to complete 2 consecutive AmeriCorps service terms through City Year and National Health Corps Florida, where she was then hired at Sulzbacher full time. While working with this population, Kelsey began to recognize that tobacco companies like to target low-income communities, which tend to have higher rates of cigarette smoking. She continues to work in the non-profit sector as a Patient Health Advocate with JaxCareConnect, which is a new program that partners with local free and charitable clinics to provide care connection to uninsured and low income adults across Duval County. Through these interactions Kelsey continuously sees the need for education on the effects of tobacco usage and smoking prevention, and is excited to have an opportunity to create change and improve health outcomes.
Treasurer:
Vacant
Board Member: Mia K Hobdy
Mia Hobdy is a Jacksonville native who recently returned to the city after 22 years living and working in Charlotte NC and Atlanta GA.As the Executive Director of New Town Success Zone, Mia is tasked with sowing in assets by collaborating with organizations to bring resources to the undeserved New Town community. New Town is based in 32209-health zone 1. The health disparities evident in the New Town community serves as great motivation to create access to services that are missing in the community. Being a member of the board of Tobacco Free Jax will allow Mia the opportunity to focus on resources that help educate individuals who may be smoking and vaping and want to find help to stop.
Board Member:
Tiffany Knight
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Tiffany Knight serves as the Healthy Start Director for the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition where she provides oversight to all programs in the five-county region. From strategic planning and development to implementation and evaluation, Tiffany has more than 13 years of experience in program operations. Prior to her current role, Tiffany served as the Director of Program Operations at Pace Center for Girls and the Site Director with Girls, Inc. of Jacksonville where she was acknowledged for her innovative gender-responsive and strength-based programming. She is passionate about creating a strong community and continues to dedicate her work to children and families. In her free time, Tiffany enjoys reading a good book, spending time with her family, and traveling to new places. Tiffany is eager to collaborate with other community stakeholders and leaders to create unique and sustainable initiatives to reduce youth tobacco use and its related deaths. Recognizing more smokers begin the addiction at a young age, it is critical to provide education and prevention to youth.
Board Member:
Dr. Brian Seymour
Dr. Seymour is the Research Director of the Center for the Prevention of Health Disparities at Edward Waters College (EWC). His pioneering work on the effects of second-had smoke on allergic asthma was partly instrumental on legislation that ban smoking in public places in the state of California. Dr. Seymour is currently pursuing public health research opportunities in the local community. His goal is to inform and support the policy making process that can ultimately eliminate the health disparity that exists in urban communities such as Health Zone 1 where EWC is located.
Board Member:
Dr. Megan Bewernitz
Dr. Megan Bewernitz has been a licensed occupational therapist since 2002 and has worked in various settings including inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing facilities, the public school system, home health, and academia. She received her Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Florida in 2008. In addition to her diverse clinical experience, Dr. Bewernitz currently is a faculty member in Jacksonville University’s Doctor of Occupational Therapy program. The majority of Dr. Bewernitz’ research, teaching, and clinical experience has focused on working with the geriatric population and community health, wellness, and participation initiatives. Her interest in tobacco use prevention especially pertains to these initiatives and is paramount to chronic disease prevention, health, and wellness.
Tobacco Policy Manager: Kimberly Mraz
Kim has over 15 years experience in the field of Pubic Health. Her experience includes implementing evidenced based strategies in communities to encourage youth and adults to have tobacco free lifestyles and experience working with local decision makers to encourage policy change. As a trained Tobacco Treatment Specialist, Kim is passionate about providing knowledge about tobacco cessation services and creating policies aimed toward tobacco prevention.
Community Engagement Manager: Constance Desmore
Constance Desmore received her M.P.H degree from Bethune-Cookman University in 2018. Shortly after graduation, Constance began her career in health education and public health consulting. Both roles reinforced her passion for youth and tobacco prevention. As the Duval Community Engagement Manager for CivCom, Constance is excited to work with the county’s youth, supporting and encouraging them to take a stand against tobacco companies.
Area Director: Dustin Arceneaux
Dustin Arceneaux is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) credentialed through the NCHEC. He graduated from University of Florida with a Master's in Health Education & Behavior. With over 10 years of public health experience, he brings his passion for management, interpersonal communication, wellness, and tobacco prevention to the Civcom Team. As a former smoker, Dustin is passionate about tobacco prevention as he experienced the reasons why people decide to start as well as quit smoking.
