TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
ANSR provides technical assistance to grantees in Minnesota working on projects through the Tobacco-Free Communities grant, which is a program of the Minnesota Department of Health’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Program. The Tobacco-Free Communities grantees focus on creating tobacco control policy changes that particularly help to meet the health needs of traditionally under-served populations in Minnesota.
ANSR provides technical assistance (TA) and training for tobacco-specific policy areas, and foundational skills (general skills-development). ANSR provides TA and training through various methods, including individual consultation, group trainings and providing materials. Individual consultation might include in-person or phone conversations, email or video conferencing. Group trainings might be conducted through conference calls, webinars, lunch-and-learns, presentations or workshops.
Many materials and resources have been developed for tobacco-specific areas, as well as general policy or skills development. ANSR provides TA and training formally via webinars or trainings or informally via phone conversations or problem-solving meetings. ANSR has developed many materials and resources for various topic areas and can also develop new materials and resources as the need arises.
OSHII Grantee(s) Served
- SHIP
- CTG
- TFCRegion:
- WC
- SE
- Metro
- Statewide
Strategy Expertise
- Tobacco-free/smoke-free policies
- Tobacco Control
- Smoke-free Housing
- Tobacco-free post-secondary campus
- Point-of-sale/retail environment
- Smoke-free foster care and/or child care
- Tobacco-free or Smoke-free Outdoor spaces (parks and recreation, transit stops, healthcare sites, etc.)
Population-Specific Experience
- Urban Population
- Suburban Population
- Rural Population
- African/African American
- Asian
- Hispanic/Latino
- Native American
- LGBT Population
- Youth and Young Adults
- Adults over 60
- Persons with Mental Illness and/or Substance Abuse
Foundational Skill Expertise
Community Engagement
- Advocacy/Community Mobilization
- Coalition Building & Sustaining
- Partnership/Leadership Development
- Identifying and developing key relationships
- Asset mapping
- Power mapping
- Leading and facilitating effective meetings
- Building teams
Assessment, Planning & Evaluation
- Assessment or Survey Development
- Strategic Planning
- Evaluation Planning
- Evaluation tool development
- Continuous Program Improvement (Quality Improvement)
Understanding of Policy, Systems & Environmental Change (PSE)
- General PSE Knowledge and Skills
- Policy Development/Analysis
Communications
- Communications Tools
- Earned and Paid Media Campaigns
- Fact Sheet/Material Development
- Communications Planning
- Branding
- Effective Messaging
- Identifying and using success stories
Meet the Team
Jeanne Weigum
President
Jeanne Weigum, BA, MSW, has more than 40 years of experience in tobacco control and is an expert in coalition building, policy advocacy, media advocacy, budgeting, managing, supervising, evaluation, and reporting.
Contact Jeanne for:
- Questions about state-level tobacco control work
- General policy strategy assistance
- Inquiries about the history of tobacco control
Esha Seth
Director of Technical Assistance
Esha Seth joined the ANSR team in June 2014 and will serve as the coordinator for ANSR’s technical assistance services.
Contact Esha for:
- General Technical Assistance requests
- When you don’t know which member of the ANSR TA team should assist you
- Signage, materials, resources, etc.
- Assistance with Tobacco-Free Grounds and worksites policy adoption and implementation
- Tobacco 21 Implementation
- Retailer Training
- Point of Sale advocacy
- Community Education and organizing
Emily M. Anderson
Director of Policy
Tobacco-Free Youth Recreation
Tobacco-Free Campuses
Emily M. Anderson, MA, has more than nine years of experience in tobacco control, focusing on outdoor air policy, tobacco-free campuses, point-of-sale marketing and youth and young adult tobacco prevention.
Contact Emily for:
- Assistance with your outdoor air policy work (parks, grounds, campuses, etc.)
- Help with community outreach and coalition building
- Tips and tools for youth recruitment
- Help reaching out to decision makers
Jackie Siewert
Program director
Live Smoke Free
Jackie Siewert is a Community Outreach Coordinator for Live Smoke Free working in Carver, Scott, and Wright counties. She has more than three years of experience as a multi-unit housing property manager.
Contact Jackie for:
- Assistance with community outreach
- Help with policy adoption and implementation for smoke-free housing
- Tips directly from a property manager
Molly Schmidtke
Community Outreach Coordinator
Molly Schmidtke has been working in tobacco control since 2020. The focus of her work is conducting outreach and education events, supporting youth policy and advocacy efforts, and supporting tobacco prevention efforts.
Contact Molly for:
- Point of sale policy advocacy
- Community outreach and coalition building
- Youth engagement and advocacy
- Development of new resources
- Planning for meetings with decision makers
- Community assessment
- Organizing public hearings
Kara Skahen
Program Director
Minnesota Prevention Resource Center
Kara Skahen, MSW/MPP, has worked on smoke-free housing with the Live Smoke Free program for more than five years at the local, state, and national levels.
Contact Kara for:
- Technical assistance to property owners, managers, and public health professionals
- Smoke-free Housing Community Assessments
- Policy implementation in Affordable, Market Rate, and Common Interest Housing Communities
- Housing Industry Outreach and Engagement
- Resident Outreach and Engagement
- Creation and utilization of educational materials
- Smoke-free housing data tracking
Katie Engman
Program Director: Policy & Compliance
Katie H. Engman is a Program Director. Since 2002, Katie has coordinated and supported diverse school- and community-based tobacco prevention programming and advocacy work.
Contact Katie for:
- Help schools policy around tobacco use
- Help reaching out to decision makers and organizing public hearings
- Point of sale policy advocacy
- Community outreach and coalition building
- Development of new resources
- Planning for meetings with decision makers
- Community assessment
Jack Ayim
Policy & Community Outreach Coordinator
Jack Ayim, is a Policy & Community Outreach Coordinator. In this role, Jack works in the field of tobacco prevention with a focus on policy work involving youth and young adult tobacco prevention and coordinating community partners and contractors.
Contact Jack for:
- Technical assistance to property owners, managers, and public health professionals
- Smoke-free Housing Community Assessments
- Point of sale Policy Advocacy
- Tracking Multi-Unit Housing/Manage Database
- Help with Information Technology
Technical Assistance Resources Available
These are examples of some of the available resources for grantees. Click to view and download.