GRASSROOTS PARTNERS SPUR SMOKEFREE MOVEMENT FORWARD
With ANR Foundation and ANR involvement, coalition building and smokefree education work toward ensuring smokefree air for everyone!
BACKGROUND & MISSION
The American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation (ANRF) is a national nonprofit working at the intersection of public health, health equity, and social & racial justice. For over 40 years, ANRF has built and partnered with grassroots coalitions across the country to advance smokefree protections—especially for low-income, racially diverse, and marginalized workers. Ever wonder how smoking was eliminated from airplanes? Or why you don’t have to fight to breathe through secondhand smoke at your favorite restaurant anymore? Our work behind the scenes led to these life-changing public health victories, and we continue to fight to expand protections in workplaces like casinos, bars, and music venues.
Exposure to secondhand smoke threatens not only health but also economic wellbeing and family stability, contributing to long-term disparities. We invest in training community members and impacted workers—through advocacy, storytelling, and civic leadership training—so they can lead efforts for healthier, smokefree workplaces and strengthen their health and their economic opportunity. We protect vulnerable workers, uphold public health protections, and empower community members to drive change. The ANR Foundation believes that everyone deserves the right to breathe clean air at their workplace. We’re committed to protecting workers and building lasting equity across the country.
ANR FOUNDATION HELPS NONSMOKERS
As of July 1, 2025, 37.3% of workers in the United States are still exposed to secondhand smoke on the job.
We work with individuals to answer questions about smokefree air, provide accurate information about the dangers of secondhand smoke, highlight the health disparities in exposure among various groups of people, and provide assistance in promoting nonsmokers rights.
We work with state and community-based organizations, including health departments, schools, hospitals, policy-makers, service providers, and their stakeholders to build the capacity of these groups to plan, deliver, and evaluate community interventions, health communication initiatives, and policy efforts to prevent smoking and promote smokefree air.
We identify emerging issues in the field and help set a national policy agenda for smokefree air.
PARTIAL LIST OF FUNDERS
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
Indiana State Department of Health
Georgia Department of Public Health – Georgia Tobacco Use Prevention Program (GA DPH – GTUPP)