Wave 2 of ECTC is in the Books!
Recognizing Our Statewide Partners
The 2024 Olympics may be starting in a few weeks, but California’s Local Lead Agencies (LLAs) have been racing against the clock to complete their ECTC Data Collection in time. We are excited to declare that LLAs medaled in all four events— stores, parks, sidewalks, and MUH!
Congratulations and a huge thanks to all the LLAs and local data collection teams for your amazing efforts to collect wave 2 of the ECTC observations!
What is ECTC Data Collection?
ECTC stands for End Commercial Tobacco Campaign. According to the California Department of Public Health, the End Commercial Tobacco Campaign "aims to build a movement across California that prepares and transitions communities to end the tobacco epidemic." And it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that TCEC thinks collecting data is an essential part of this!
A key component of this campaign requires all local lead agencies (LLA) to participate in a statewide, coordinated effort to gather standardized observation data at various locations depending on an LLA’s ECTC policy goals: 2.2.13 Smokefree Multi-Unity Housing, 2.2.35 Comprehensive Smokefree Outdoor Public Places, 2.2.29 Eliminate Tobacco Product Sales to Address Tobacco Waste, 3.2.17 No Sale of Commercial Tobacco, 3.2.1 Tobacco Retail Licensing, 3.2.2 Tobacco Retailer Density Reduction, among others.
What does this mean? Local staff gather LOTS of retail and outdoor secondhand smoke observation data in a very specific way at a very specific time. This undertaking is a huge amount of work, and many people devote an immense amount of their time and energy to completing this task. Data collection teams completed observations at over 400 sidewalks, nearly 550 parks, about 1,000 MUH properties, and 2,800 stores. Some locations were even visited multiple times!
LLAs completed the first wave of observations in their primary ECTC communities in 2022. Some also conducted additional observations in their optional secondary ECTC communities in 2023. That makes 2024 the second wave for primary communities, and by this time next year, data collection teams will have collected the second wave for optional secondary ECTC communities. The TCEC team will be here to support you through it all!
What Can These Data Be Used for?
All this work pays off. This kind of statewide data collection is rare and provides invaluable insight into what is happening in our retail and outdoor secondhand smoking environments all over the state, both an overview snapshot as well as up close and personal at a local level. Local projects have used this data to respond to inquiries from the public and decision-makers, generate educational materials and media buzz, and, most importantly to guide local project strategies and decisions. These data have also been presented and shared in many formats, from national conferences to city council meetings, to justify the tobacco prevention work we do and demonstrate the progress we strive for. It can be used to recruit supporters and community members to join your cause.
Step Up to the Awards Podium!
First off, thank you to the ECTC workgroup members and pilot testers who helped develop these instruments. Thank you especially to Tam Vuong and the CTPP Evaluation and Surveillance Unit for generating aaaaalllll of the sample lists. Thank you to those who stepped up when things went sideways, especially through staffing changes and competing priorities. Thank you to everyone for your patience and extra efforts to deal with technology glitches. Receiving your messages of understanding helps us all get through the challenges together.
While many people have worked hard to pull off this statewide effort, a few went above and beyond this wave, so we want to recognize their efforts here.
- Shasta County encountered challenges completely beyond their control; data glitches that resulted in lost data that needed to be re-surveyed cost their staff countless hours. Anyone would have every right to be frustrated, but they kept a positive and professional attitude the whole time, always focused on completing the task. Shasta staff showed dedication to completing the data collection quickly and accurately, never getting discouraged by the shortcomings of today’s technology.
- Tulare County began early with a plan. They worked quickly and accurately; finishing up in March with only a couple of small data corrections!
- Santa Cruz and Del Norte Counties also completed their observations early, and alerted TCEC to issues with the SurveyPocket app early on, meaning fewer LLAs were impacted during data collection.
- San Bernardino and Trinity Counties were also persistent, working through some data glitches with a positive can-do attitude.
- Contra Costa County has been reliable and consistent during these data collection waves, finishing their sample in a timely manner and showing attention to detail.
- Yolo County completed sidewalk observations in the same order as last time, which made data cleaning and processing much easier!
- Orange County, Marin County, and the City of Pasadena were highly communicative and always engaged in our Monthly Q&A sessions, raising important questions that helped other LLAs during data collection!
- Santa Barbara, Yolo, Siskiyou, Napa, Butte, Kings, Santa Clara, Plumas, and others completed their data with no data entry errors!
- Thank you also to those who were able to submit photos. Many of you captured some truly eye-opening images that are sure to convince others to take action!
- Thank you for joining us during our Monthly Q/A sessions. We love engaging with you all and exchanging ideas for how to do our work best. The TCEC Team is always here to help you in your evaluation efforts.
Without all of your incredible efforts, we would not have the robust statewide tobacco environment data that we need to plan the next steps to keep everyone in our state healthy and tobacco-free!