E.N. West is the co-founder and lead organizer of the Faith Land Initiative of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity. Watch for interviews with all 10 of these innovators bringing older and...
Purpose Prize
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In Rural Oregon, Bringing Generations Together for Financial Wellness
Maree Beers is the co-director of Empowering Tillamook Country through Financial Wellness, a program of Urban Rural Action, and one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity. Watch for interviews with all 10 of these innovators bringing...
Access Gallery Brings Artists with Disabilities Together Across Generations
Damon McLeese is the executive director of Access Gallery, one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity. Watch for interviews with all 10 of these innovators bringing older and younger people together to open doors to economic opportunity...
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Joe Garagiola
Purpose Prize Fellow 2006
Educating the baseball family and the public about the dangers of smokeless tobacco
Half a century ago, Joe Garagiola played baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals and witnessed firsthand the danger of “spit” tobacco use. Since then, the anti-tobacco movement has grown in strength, yet the focus has largely been on cigarettes. In the mid-90s, Garagiola became chair of the National Spit Tobacco Education Program and decided to use professional baseball players to educate kids and their parents on the dangers of chewing tobacco. His goal was to help ballplayers quit their use of spit tobacco, and then enlist them, their trainers, their managers, and broadcast media to send the message that the stimulant has no place in baseball, athletics, or a healthy lifestyle. Garagiola’s work is paying off, as several star players with the power of influence have become vocal advocates of the program, and tobacco use among American youth and adults continues to drop at a significant rate. The recent first time decline in U.S. cancer deaths has been attributed in large part to the decline in tobacco use and exposure.