History

Smoke-Free Texas

Executive Committee

RWJ

About Houston Communities For Safe Indoor Air

Houston Communities for Safe Indoor Air (HCSIA) is a coalition of minority groups that work on smoke-free policy change and childhood obesity policy. HCSIA was established in 2003 by the African American Health Coalition, the Asian American Health Coalition, the Association for the Advancement of Mexican- Americans, The Chinese Community Center, Families Under Urban and Social Attack, Inc., the Hispanic Health Coalition, the Native American Health Coalition, the Third Ward Community Cloth Cooperative and the Vietnamese Culture & Science Association. These ethnically diverse groups formed the HCISA coalition to advocate for smoke-free indoor in the City of Houston. Together, these groups set out to educate and engage community members and local leaders on the importance of a smoke-free Houston.
Funded by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant, Houston Communities for Safe Indoor Air held town hall meetings and hosted events to train Houstonians how to become advocates around the issue. Their efforts proved successful; HCSIA worked with Breathe-Free Houston to see the passage of a smoking ordinance for the City of Houston in 2006.
Houston Communities for Safe Indoor Air serves as an example of how communities of color could unite and make measurable policy changes through advocacy and education. Local efforts of the coalition lead to a statewide mission. That mission is to engage communities of color around the State of Texas in advocating for smoke-free policy change. HCSIA is a member of the Smoke-Free Texas Leadership team and is working on grassroots efforts around Texas.
The issue of childhood obesity has become a pressing issue for communities across America. In an interest to increase conversations around childhood obesity and how policy could be used to address this American epidemic, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation assisted HCISA in expanding its advocacy influence but supporting a Childhood Obesity Policy Advocacy initiative targeting Houston’s 3rd Ward community. Houston Communities for Safe Indoor Air is working with community members and coalitions in the 3rd Ward area to encourage physical activity and increase traffic to Emancipation Park.
HCSIA is a policy voice for communities for color around the state for smoke-free policy change and childhood obesity policy.