The foundation board, at its second-quarter meeting for 1999, awarded over $400,000 for 10 programs, including four programs to reduce tobacco use and six to improve health care access. Programs for tobacco reduction approved for foundation awards were: - "Minnesota Acts: Grassroots Action for Healthier Communities:'' a pilot program in three Minnesota communities to promote healthy behaviors, with a focus on preventing youth from starting to smoke. The program is the successor to "Minnesota Decides: A Community Blueprint for Tobacco Reduction,'' sponsored by Blue Cross and other health care organizations in 1997-1998 to create a statewide plan to reduce tobacco use. For more information on Minnesota Decides, visit http://www.mnbluecrosstobacco.com. - Minnesota Institute for Veterans Research: a pilot program in two St. Paul high schools to reduce tobacco use among students by creating intervention teams with youth leaders for anti-tobacco advocacy and peer education. - Winona County Community Health Services: for a community organizer to further Winona County's community tobacco reduction project, Winona Health Challenge. - Vietnamese Minnesotans Association: a new program to reduce tobacco use within the Twin Cities' Southeast Asian community.

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