Advocating for a
Healthier California
The California Youth Advocacy Network (CYAN) advocates with and for youth and young adults to create equitable, sustainable change to advance overall community health.
What's New
Earth Day 2025 - Registration Open
CYAN supports Earth Day events on California colleges and universities. The goal of this statewide event is to increase student awareness of the negative impact of commercial tobacco on the environment, motivate behavior change, and promote smoke and tobacco-free campus policies. This year’s theme, Earth Day: Small Acts, Big Impact, focuses on small actions individuals can do decrease the impact of tobacco on the environment. California colleges and universities or Tobacco Prevention Programs working with institutions of higher education on tobacco prevention and treatment initiatives can register for the event. Those registered will receive Earth Day tote bags and an event toolkit to support campus activities. The deadline to register for this year’s event is Friday, April 11.
Youth Quest Success
Youth Quest 2025 was a huge success thanks to the 402 youth and adult partners who attended this year’s event from 58 coalitions. Coalitions were successful in meeting with all 120 legislative officers through scheduled meetings and drop-by visits. This year’s theme, Put Big Tobacco on Mute, focused on silencing the influence of the tobacco industry through our phones, social media channels, and in our communities. Stay tuned for more information on the 2026 event.
New Fact Sheets - Youth Tobacco Use and Oral Nicotine Products
available for adult audiences, These materials are designed to increase awareness of youth tobacco use and new and emerging products young people may be using.
The Youth Tobacco Use fact sheet highlights prevalence data from the 2023 California Youth Tobacco Use Survey.
The Oral Nicotine Products fact sheet offers an overview of the different types of products currently or previously available in the US marketplace that may attract new youth and young adult users.
The Zyn fact sheets provides information on the trending oral nicotine pouch. All materials are available in English and Spanish-language versions will be released in early August.
Supporting engagement and advocacy.
youth
Empowering California’s youth to create tobacco-free environments. CYAN’s Youth Program supports the development of youth-adult partnerships in order to effectively advocate for social norm change in local communities.
college
Through training, education, and support, CYAN is partnering with student and public health advocates to eliminate tobacco and tobacco industry presence on California college and university campuses.
emerging tobacco
Youth and young adults are more likely to use new and emerging tobacco and nicotine products than any other age group population. In order to combat this reality, CYAN provides support and resources to organizations striving to prevent young people from tobacco use.
Resources
CYAN supports tobacco-free prevention and advocacy throughout the California. We provide resources such as program-specific educational materials, tools, and fact sheets as well as web-based trainings to increase knowledge and capacity of tobacco control advocates.
Educational Materials
CYAN’s educational materials are designed for youth and young adults. The goal of these materials is to increase awareness of the realities of new and emerging tobacco products, prevent tobacco use, and encourage quit attempt among young people.
Fact Sheets & tools
A variety of fact sheets, tools, and materials are available for youth, young adult, and tobacco control advocates working to limit tobacco in local communities. The resources range from informational fact sheets to tools to support community engagement and advocacy activities.
online Trainings
CYAN utilizes web-based technology to provide a range of training opportunities for individuals advocating for smoke/tobacco-free policies as well as those promoting quit attempts. Trainings are available for youth advocates, college students and staff, and military health professionals.