About Us
NYC Smoke-Free, a program of Public Health Solutions, works to protect the health of New Yorkers through tobacco control policy, advocacy, and education. We partner with community members, legislators, and health advocates to support local efforts to end the devastating tobacco epidemic throughout NYC, where close to 1 million residents smoke. Most smokers start and become hooked before age 18 – it is unacceptable for NYC youth to be lured into a life of tobacco addiction. Every NYC resident has the right to breathe clean, smoke-free air where they live, work, and play, and people who smoke deserve the support and resources to quit.
Tobacco use remains the #1 cause of preventable death in the United States, killing over 480,000 annually.¹ In New York City, 12,000 residents die from a smoking-related illness every year.² Our advocacy efforts serve to foster environments that support the prevention and reduction of tobacco use through the development and reinforcement of tobacco-free norms in communities throughout New York City. While employing a two-pronged approach via youth action and community engagement, we utilize a community-based strategy which includes community education, community mobilization, government policy-maker education, and advocacy with organizational decision-makers.
¹ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014 [accessed 2015 Aug 17].
² Public Health Solutions (2018). LGBT Tobacco Disparities. https://www.healthsolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/LGBT-Disparities-2018.pdf
Key Issues
- Limiting youth exposure and access to tobacco marketing and advertising of flavored tobacco products.
- Increasing the number of apartment buildings, co-ops, and condominiums that are 100% smoke-free.
- Increasing the number of smoke-free outdoor spaces.
- Reducing tobacco imagery in youth rated movies and youth friendly internet sites.
- Engaging youth and community partners to build support for a smoke-free city and end tobacco health disparities.
Tobacco Proliferation
Many New Yorkers are seeing more and more tobacco in our communities. And in some of our most vulnerable communities, tobacco is both persistent and pervasive: chronic disparities of higher tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure rates are coupled with widespread availability of dangerous tobacco products.
More InfoKey Facts
- NYC neighborhoods are already swamped with over 8,000 tobacco outlets (American Cancer Society, 2017).
- Compared to students across the US, New York City students were more likely to get their own tobacco vaping products by purchasing them in a local store.
- In NYC, 94% of public schools are within 1,000 feet (~2 city blocks) from a tobacco retailer (ASPiRE Center, 2020).
Flavored Tobacco: Menthol
While smoking rates are seeing an overall decline, the use of flavors in tobacco products has seriously jeopardized recent progress. One flavor in particular, menthol, has had a particularly harmful impact on health – which is often overlooked.
Key Facts
- Menthol cigarette smokers have lower rates of quitting than traditional cigarette smokers (Truth Initiative, 2022).
- The use of menthol cigarettes is disproportionate among smokers, with 86% of African-American smokers in NYC using menthol cigarettes compared to 36% of white smokers (NYS BTC, 2021).
- 64% of Latinx smokers use menthol cigarettes.
Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS)
Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), more commonly known as e-cigarettes, or vaping, has significantly increased over the past few years.
Key Facts
- ENDS are considered tobacco products because they contain nicotine, a derivative of tobacco.
- Use of ENDS is strongly linked to the use of other tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, hookah, and smokeless tobacco—especially among youth.
- ENDs are not FDA-approved as a quit aid and research is still being conducted on their effectiveness as such (FDA, 2023)
- E-cigarettes were the most common tobacco product used among middle and high school students (2.06 million) in 2021 (NYTS, 2021).
Tobacco Disparities
The tobacco epidemic is far from over and significant disparities in tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure persist for far too many New Yorkers, especially the most vulnerable. NYC Smoke-Free is committed to building health equity to put an end to the devastating tobacco epidemic.
More Info
Key Facts
- Tobacco remains the #1 cause of premature, preventable death for New Yorkers and 1 out of every 3 smokers will die from smoking-related diseases.
- Over 22,000 New Yorkers – including 12,000 in NYC – continue to die every year from tobacco.
- Studies have found disturbing tobacco disparities in immigrant populations, with higher smoking rates for Black, Latinx, and Asian/Pacific Islander men. Smoking rates are also higher for LGBTQIA2S+ folks (Merizier et al., 2022).
- Vaping and e-cigarette use has skyrocketed among young New Yorkers. In 2018, 45,000 NYC youth reported using e-cigarettes or vaping products in the last month (NYC Health, 2019).
- The use of menthol cigarettes is disproportionately high among certain groups of smokers. In NYC, for example, 86% of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared to 36% of white smokers (NY BTC, 2021).
Housing Inequality
Smoke-free housing should not be a luxury out of reach for all New Yorkers, including families in public or affordable housing, who deserve to breathe clean, smoke-free air free from toxic nicotine.
Key Facts
- In NYC, luxury condominiums, co-ops, and market-rate rentals are increasingly smoke-free.
- A poll conducted by NYC DOHMH and NYCHA found that 75% of NYCHA residents preferred to live in a building where smoking was not allowed anywhere inside the building, including apartments. Additionally, 64% of residents responded that all NYC public housing or projects should be smoke-free (Farley et al., 2016).
- NYCHA residents are twice as likely to report having asthma as NYC adults overall (Farley et al., 2016).
Tobacco Product Waste
In NYC, tobacco product waste is a form of litter from cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, vape cartridges, cigars, cigarillos, packaging, and more. NYC Smoke-Free aims to reduce tobacco product waste in our neighborhoods through education, advocacy, community clean ups, and awareness campaigns.
Key Facts
- The annual mean per capita TPW cost for 30 cities in the US was $6.46, and the total cost for all 30 cities combined was $264.5 million per year (Avalon Health Economics, Morristown, NJ 07960).
- More than 249 billion cigarettes were consumed in the United States in 2017 (Maxwell, J. The Maxwell Report: Year End & Fourth Quarter 2017 Cigarette Industry).
- Cities such as New York as substantial costs nearly $80 million (Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 4705).
Tobacco-Free Outdoors
Tobacco-Free Outdoor Policies (TFO) are voluntary policies adopted by businesses, community institutions, and faith-based organizations to ban smoking on outdoor property.
Key Facts
- Each year, secondhand smoke causes an estimated 7,330 and 34,000 non-smoker deaths from lung cancer and heart disease, respectively (NYS DOH, 2018).
- Smoking in outdoor spaces is an ongoing health hazard that exposes thousands of New Yorkers to secondhand smoke every day.
- Since 1964, 2.5 million adults who were non-smokers died due to secondhand smoke (NYS DOH, 2018).
Our Team
Meet the team! We are the people behind the people.
Vonetta Dudley, MA, CHES
Director
Vonetta Dudley is the Director of NYC Smoke-Free at Public Health Solutions, where she leads strategic initiatives to combat the tobacco epidemic through tobacco control policy, advocacy, and public health education. In this role, she has successfully written and secured grant funding to sustain and expand programmatic efforts and has shared best practices and program outcomes through presentations at several national and regional conferences, including the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) and the National Conference on Tobacco or Health (NCTOH).
Vonetta joined Public Health Solutions in 2014 as a Youth Engagement Manager, where she worked closely with local youth to empower them, build advocacy skills, and nurture them into strong student leaders within their communities. Her dedication to youth development laid a strong foundation for cultivating the next generation of tobacco-free champions and advancing health equity through community-driven action.
Prior to her tenure at Public Health Solutions, Vonetta served as a Health Educator at Urban Health Plan, Inc.’s Adolescent Health and Wellness Center, where she provided direct education and counseling to youth on a wide range of health topics, including nutrition, reproductive health, and mental well-being. She also held the role of Program Coordinator for the Pediatric Department’s “Fit for Life” program, where she spearheaded an infant-toddler obesity prevention initiative, working closely with families to promote healthier lifestyle choices from early childhood.
In recognition of her leadership and commitment to public health, Vonetta was selected as a fellow in the Leadership Fellows of New York program. Through this experience, she engaged in intensive leadership training, mentorship, and hands-on projects that further strengthened her ability to drive meaningful change within the nonprofit sector. Vonetta’s professional goal has always been to educate community members and residents on how to live longer, healthier lives by becoming advocates for their own health. Her commitment to equity, prevention, and empowerment continues to guide her impactful work in tobacco control and beyond.
Vonetta is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) and holds a Master’s degree in Health Education and Promotion from Lehman College and a Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies from Hunter College.
Marcus Buitrago
Program Coordinator & Outreach Coordinator
Marcus Buitrago is the Program Coordinator and Outreach Coordinator of NYC-Smoke Free at Public Health Solutions. Marcus is passionate about educating the youth, environmental justice, community advocacy, food and nutrition through the promotion of health/wellness which ultimately leads to prevention of disease/illness. Prior to joining Public Health Solutions, he worked at New York University as a Assistant Field Supervisor/Assistant Research Scientist. He has also worked as a Team Supervisor for the NYSDOH Virtual Call Center COVID-19 Contact Tracing initiative to help combat the pandemic. Marcus was born and raised in NYC where he has been giving back to various communities as a professional, volunteer, and community well-being advocate for over a decade.
Marcus currently holds an Associate’s Degree of Occupational Studies in Culinary Arts, a Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Public Health, and is a Certified Nutrition Health coach.
Zoe Cruz
Reality Check Youth Engagement Manager – Bronx
Zoe Cruz serves as the North Bronx Reality Check Youth Engagement Manager for NYC Smoke-Free at Public Health Solutions. A Bronx native, Zoe is a committed Youth Development Professional dedicated to supporting and empowering young people through educational, public health, and creative initiatives.
Throughout her career, Zoe has helped lead young people through artivism, poetry, and storytelling as tools for advocacy. Zoe works to support students in using their voices to speak out on the public health issues that impact their communities.
Zoe has previously worked with organizations such as Good Shepherd Services and Homes for the Homeless. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Dominican University and has earned recognition for her work, including the Lifeset Specialist Certification of Achievement and the Lifeset Specialist Certificate of Advocacy from Youth Villages.
Julia Cuthbertson, MPH
Community Engagement Manager South – Brooklyn and Staten Island
Julia Cuthbertson, MPH
Community Engagement Manager South – Brooklyn and Staten IslandJulia Cuthbertson is a Community Engagement Manager at NYC Smoke-Free at Public Health Solutions, where she works to end the devastating tobacco epidemic and protect the health of all New Yorkers through tobacco control policy, advocacy, and education. She covers the city’s “south” region which consists of Brooklyn and Staten Island. Prior to joining Public Health Solutions, she worked on obesity prevention by increasing healthy food access as a consultant at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Since 2010, she has also collaborated with NoFumadores.org, Spain’s leading tobacco control advocacy group.
Leilah Molina
Reality Check Youth Engagement Manager – Brooklyn
Though she’s a Bronx native through and through, Brooklyn will always hold a special place in Leilah’s heart! As the Brooklyn Reality Check Youth Engagement Manager of NYC Smoke-Free at Public Health Solutions, Leilah spends her day connecting with Brooklynites who want to make their borough a better place for the next generation. In her work with youth, she prepares and encourages them to become the leaders they are through advocacy, engagement, leadership and connection surrounding the commercial tobacco control landscape. Whether it’s hosting a Reality Check program meeting with students, presenting at a school or tabling at a community health fair, the well-being of Brooklyn’s youth and New York City is never far from her mind.
Stefanie Mercado Altman, MScPH
Community Engagement Manager East – Manhattan and Eastern Queens
Stefanie Mercado Altman, MScPH
Community Engagement Manager East – Manhattan and Eastern QueensStefanie Mercado Altman is the Manhattan and Eastern Queens Community Engagement Manager for NYC Smoke-Free at Public Health Solutions, where she works to address the tobacco epidemic and protect the health of New Yorkers through tobacco control policy, advocacy, and education. Since joining NYC Smoke-Free in May 2022, Stefanie has supported multiple residential buildings in Manhattan in adopting smoke-free housing policies, helping convert more than 1,100 units to smoke-free apartments.
In addition to housing work, Stefanie has partnered with both large and small employers to implement tobacco-free outdoor policies, including St. Mary’s Center, East Harlem Bilingual Head Start Program, Mercy University, and Mount Calvary Baptist Church.
Stefanie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Ithaca College in 2013 and her Master of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2015.
Jasleen Kaur
Reality Check Youth Engagement Manager – Manhattan and Staten Island
Jasleen Kaur
Reality Check Youth Engagement Manager – Manhattan and Staten Island
Ayisha Green
Reality Check Youth Engagement Manager – Queens
Ayisha Green is the Queens Reality Check Youth Engagement Manager of NYC Smoke-Free at Public Health Solutions, where she works to end the devastating tobacco epidemic and protect the health of New Yorkers through tobacco control policy, advocacy, and education. A Queens born and based organizer and Public Health practitioner passionate about advancing health equity; Ayisha works to bring youth in Queens to the center the conversations addressing tobacco through empowering information, dialogue, and impactful experiences.
Frederick Marte
Community Engagement Manager North – Bronx and North Queens
Frederick Marte
Community Engagement Manager North – Bronx and North QueensFrederick Marte is the Bronx and North Queens Community Engagement Manager for NYC Smoke-Free at Public Health Solutions, where he advances tobacco control through culturally responsive policy advocacy, community education, and coalition-building. In his current role, Frederick spearheads borough-based coalition meetings alongside more than 20 partner organizations, supports bilingual outreach efforts by assisting with Spanish-language presentations and translations, and led the planning and facilitation of NYC Smoke-Free’s first Menthol Poetry Event—an arts-based initiative centering lived experience and community storytelling in public health advocacy.
Previously, Frederick served as the Staten Island Community Engagement Manager, where he cultivated partnerships with faith-based organizations during large-scale community events such as Jesus Week, collaborated with local barbershops to host wellness and health education events, and contributed to the borough’s Vaping Committee (Just Breathe), working with high school students to provide education, prevention tools, and cessation resources.
Across boroughs, Frederick has also collaborated with Bronx-based partners to co-present to over 100 medical students on the importance of cultural humility when working with marginalized communities, with a specific focus on borough-level health inequities and structural barriers to care.
Frederick is a PhD candidate at Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work, where his scholarship centers on culturally grounded, community-informed approaches to health equity, advocacy, and social welfare. His professional work is deeply informed by a commitment to equity, language access, and community-driven solutions to the tobacco epidemic.
Partners
We partner with community members, legislators, and local health advocates to promote a smoke-free city through neighborhood-based efforts, information sharing, and policy change. Our success would not be possible without a number of health and youth-focused organizations throughout NYC:
Additional Partners
NYC Smoke-Free is an Advancing Tobacco-Free Communities (ATFC) Partner:
The New York State Department of Health, Bureau of Tobacco Control funds NYC Smoke-Free at Public Health Solutions to increase support for New York State’s tobacco-free norm through youth action and community engagement. Efforts are evidence-based, policy-driven, and cost-effective approaches that decrease youth tobacco use, motivate adult smokers to quit, and eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke. Learn more about statewide efforts below:
