The Question Why (?Y) guide to Youth Empowerment for Tobacco Control is a valuable resource developed to assist youth groups in the fight against tobacco.  You can jump into any section of the guide at whatever stage you're at now, whether you're just starting to create a youth group or trying to effect change in your community.

• Part 1 provides a glimpse of the rising tide of tobacco abuse in a state where the tobacco leaf is still revered, along with an overview of North Carolina’s Question Why Youth Empowerment initiative, more commonly abbreviated as ?Y.

• Part 2 identifies the multi-tiered infrastructure ready to support and strengthen the role of young advocates who are trying to change community norms and policies to make tobacco addiction unacceptable.

• Part 3 provides numerous suggestions about building and guiding a youth group as well as other pointers.

• Part 4 outlines a user-friendly approach for youth groups to integrate the process of assessment with action planning and ongoing evaluation.

• Part 5 includes over two dozen templates, surveys and other tools designed for youth groups and coordinators. These worksheets can be reproduced and adapted to your needs.

• Appendix includes contact information for dozens of organizations as well as a bibliography.

The ?Y guide is available for download several ways for your convenience and to help you quickly get to the information or documents that you need:

• Download the entire guide in PDF format. You must have Adobe Acrobat reader to view PDF files.  Download Adobe Acrobat Reader here.
• Download individual sections of the guide in PDF format, if you'd rather not download the entire thing. 
• Download the templates, surveys, and other tools in the toolkit in Part 5 of the guide in an editable Microsoft Word format, allowing you to make changes to the document for your own use.
  • Download each of the three subsections of the toolkit as a single MS Word (.DOC) document containing all forms/tools from that subsection.
  • Download each of the three subsections of the toolkit as a .ZIP file (compressed archive) including each form/tool as a separate MS Word document.
  • Download each form/tool in the toolkit individually in MS Word format.

Download the ?Y Guide

• Complete ?Y Guide
• ?Y Guide cover
• ?Y Guide table of contents
• ?Y Guide appendix
• ?Y Guide bibliography
• ?Y Guide Part 1: Youth empowerment overview
• ?Y Guide Part 2: Synergy throughout North Carolina
• ?Y Guide Part 3: Creating & nurturing local groups
• ?Y Guide Part 4: Roadmap for program planning and evaluation
• ?Y Guide Part 5: Toolkit of forms & worksheets  .PDF  .DOC
  • Skill & Group Development Resources  .ZIP  .DOC
    • Sample parental consent form
    • Sample school release form
    • Sample conduct form
    • Sample photo release form
    • Sample transportation and overnight night permission form
    • Sample youth employment application
    • Sample youth timesheet
    • Sample peer/team evaluation form
    • Sample self evaluation form
    • Sample probationary period review form
    • Tobacco fact sheet
    • Tobacco knowledge survey
    • Media squares
    • Tobacco jeopardy
    • Commercial count activity
    • Secondhand smoke quiz
  • Critical Awareness Resources  .ZIP  .DOC
    • Skills and opportunities inventory
    • Critical awareness checklist
    • Community changes checklist
    • Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) observation and inspection forms
    • Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis
    • Sample group annual action plan
    • Sample action planning template
    • Progress tracking form
    • Tobacco activity evaluation form
  • Opportunity & Advocacy Resources  .ZIP  .DOC
    • Sample press release
    • Sample letter to the editor
    • Sample school opinion survey
    • Sample cigarette tax opinion survey
    • Sample petition
    • Sample youth tobacco survey

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