America on Track

America On Track continued to implement 2 Tobacco Prevention Project grants from the County of Orange Health Care Agency that serve the Newport Mesa Unified School District and Brea Olinda Unified School District catchment areas from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025. In both target areas, services to be provided at schools and youth-serving organizations within the district boundaries include: 1) creating an inventory of youth-serving organizations in the selected district boundaries; 2) conducting relationship-building activities with adult representatives from schools and youth-serving organizations; 3) providing youth recruitment presentations; 4) recruiting, training and educating youth to help them identify smoking and vaping prevention activities; 5) collaborating with youth who are recruited to engage them in the smoking and vaping prevention activities that they identify; 6) creating and maintaining an educational smoking and vaping prevention social media campaign to increase awareness and positive youth development among youth; and 7) conducting educational activities for parents to raise their awareness about the harms of smoking and vaping and to provide prevention resources to support them in talking to their children about not vaping.

Since 2017, America On Track has been awarded grants (2013-2017, 2017-2020, and 2021-2025) from the County of Orange Health Care Agency, Nutrition Services to provide direct and indirect nutrition education to adults and children who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and who subsist below the federal poverty level in various key locations in Orange County. The current grant specifically focuses on providing CalFresh Healthy Living direct and indirect nutrition education services in the cities of Buena Park and Santa Ana.

Since 2010, America On Track has been implementing three consecutive 5-year grants from the California Tobacco Control Project (CTCP), California Department of Public Health to reduce secondhand smoke exposure in Orange County, with an additional "Empowering Local Communities to End the Tobacco Epidemic" grant being awarded as of May 2023. The goals of our On Track for a Tobacco-Free Orange County and our On Track to End the Tobacco Epidemic projects are to address social determinants of health and to reduce health disparities that are prevalent in communities with high Latino and Asian populations and high percentages of low socioeconomic status and limited-education individuals. We will accomplish our goals by engaging in activities to facilitate the adoption and implementation of: Smoke-Free City policies in Santa Ana, Buena Park, and Stanton; Voluntary Smoke-Free MUH policies throughout Orange County; and policies eliminating the sale and distribution of menthol and other flavored tobacco products in the cities of Buena Park, Stanton, and Fullerton. America On Track has successfully accomplished the goal of eliminating the sale and distribution of menthol and other flavored tobacco products as well as the goal of getting a Smoke-Free City policy adopted in the City of Buena Park. Buena Park adopted a Tobacco Retail License and Flavor Ban ordinance in 2021, and then in 2022 they adopted a Comprehensive Smoke-Free City and Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Residence ordinance that protects residents from unwanted secondhand smoke exposure.

America On Track's Brighter Futures for Children of Prisoners program is a holistic and multi-faceted comprehensive approach to helping the most vulnerable children of Orange County. Since 2004, the successes of our Brighter Futures program for children of prisoners have been based on 5 interwoven components: a one-on-one mentoring program with trained and carefully selected adults who meet with their mentees every week for 2 hours per week; STEAM workshops on a regular basis to promote a useful and fun approach to science; a "College Is For Me Too" summer educational/inspirational camp at a college campus to demonstrate that college is attainable and enjoyable; free age-appropriate books, and special outings. Additionally, nutritional seminars and wraparound services are provided to the guardians. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the annual cost of mass incarceration in the United States is $81 billion. Additionally, California has an incarceration rate of 549 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any democracy on earth! The children of incarcerated parents (over 20,000 in OC alone) who did not choose these parents are predicted to follow in their footsteps if they do not receive support and guidance. AOT is the only nonprofit in OC providing comprehensive services to these "forgotten" children.

America On Track's Emerging Leaders for Civic Engagement program is a unique, multi-faceted afterschool program designed to inspire today's youth to become tomorrow's leaders through a focus on the development of strong leadership and public speaking skills in order to help create a brighter future. It is a huge time commitment because it pairs outstanding teens with 4th through 6th grade students in a very structured afterschool program that requires weekly attendance from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm throughout the entire school year (30 sessions). America On Track staff members lead the program that provides the following components: Leadership Training, effective Public Speaking Skills Coaching, Social & Character Development, Nutrition Education, Music Appreciation as well as Fitness & Recreation, and much more. The teen leaders participate in the leadership process provided by America On Track, and their many talents and skills are incorporated into various components of the program. The teens receive intensive and ongoing training and are coached to assist in presenting lessons. It is a synergistic approach to developing future leaders. Our Emerging Leaders for Civic Engagement program is designed to benefit the teens and the elementary school students as well as our communities.

In 2018, America On Track was awarded a 5-year subcontract from Vista Community Clinics, through funding from the California Tobacco Control Project (CTCP), California Department of Public Health to reduce secondhand smoke exposure in the Southcoast Region. AOT's efforts focus on voluntary policy work in Orange County in the arenas of Smoke-Free Public Housing Authorities, Smoke-Free Trade Schools, and developing youth task force leaders. This grant concluded in May of 2023.