About RISE

RISE supports rural tobacco projects by leveraging resources, providing leadership training and opportunities, and offering educational materials specially designed to assist rural communities. The project works to: (1) create and disseminate a Policy Platform to community champions and key stakeholders through regional and statewide meetings and policy summits; (2) support and train tobacco control leaders from rural communities with its statewide Rural Advisory Committee and its rural leadership development program; and (3) build capacity within rural communities to engage in tobacco control policy advocacy by organizing learning institutes with non-traditional partners such as law enforcement, tribal stakeholders, and environmental groups.

There is much to appreciate about living in rural California: a focus on family and community, small town values, and wide-open spaces. Living and working in rural areas also has some challenges: large geographic areas that are sparsely populated, limited opportunities for education, fewer living wage jobs, and far-flung social, behavioral and medical services.