Quit & Thrive Challenge: Community-Derived Solutions to Reduce Menthol Cigarette Smoking

ODP sponsored the Quit & Thrive Challenge: Community-Derived Solutions to Reduce Menthol Cigarette Smoking to enhance the evidence base of interventions for populations with high levels of menthol cigarette smoking. This Challenge encouraged submissions from local and state organizations and agencies to highlight successful community-led solutions that address menthol cigarette smoking.

In March 2026, ODP awarded prizes to 12 organizations with the most successful or innovative community-led strategies. Information about the winning submissions can be found on the NIH Challenge page .

About the Quit & Thrive Challenge

Artistic illustration of lungs. Left lung is black and diseased. Right lung is pink and healthy surrounded by flowers and a butterfly. By Leah Badeau.

Combustible tobacco product use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States. Every year, nearly half a million Americans die prematurely due to smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke. Additionally, over 16 million individuals have smoking-related illnesses. The addition of menthol to cigarettes reduces the harshness of smoking and makes smoking more appealing. Menthol can also enhance the addictive effects of nicotine and make it more difficult for people to quit smoking. Some populations, including youth; people with lower incomes; and racial and ethnic minority populations; and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) populations have higher rates of menthol cigarette use compared to other population groups. Over 80% of non-Hispanic Black adults who smoke use menthol cigarettes . Despite this, there are few targeted cessation programs for menthol cigarette users.

In 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a product standard to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes (PDF) to reduce the likelihood that individuals who do not smoke will start and increase the likelihood that people who currently smoke menthol cigarettes will quit. The proposed menthol product standard, whether ultimately enacted or not, has brought attention to existing structural and systemic access barriers to smoking cessation resources, and highlights the time-sensitive need to quickly enhance the evidence base of interventions for populations experiencing health disparities. Although some cities, states, and communities have enacted laws or developed initiatives to reduce the use of menthol cigarettes, evaluation of such efforts is needed to enhance the evidence base.

Goal and Overview of the Challenge

The goal of this Challenge is to showcase innovative community-derived solutions to reduce menthol cigarette smoking among groups with disproportionately high rates of menthol cigarette use, including youth, racial and ethnic minorities, LGB populations, and people with lower incomes. These solutions can then be used to inform future federally funded research initiatives or demonstration projects to enhance the evidence base, as well as to encourage broader adoption of best practices to reduce menthol cigarette smoking.

What are community-derived solutions?

Community-derived solutions refer to programs, policies, and other strategies that have already been implemented by local or state governmental agencies, community-based organizations, or service providers, and have been shown to be effective in reducing menthol cigarette use at the organizational, neighborhood, city, county, and/or state level in the United States. Community-derived solutions may include novel strategies or adaptations of evidence-based strategies tailored to the needs and preferences of populations with high levels of menthol cigarette use. Community-derived solutions do not need to have an exclusive focus on menthol cigarette use, but they must have demonstrated specific effectiveness in reducing menthol cigarette use.

This Challenge is geared toward agencies or organizations that implemented or delivered the community-derived solution(s). Projects that are supported by an NIH grant do not meet the definition of community-derived solutions. Solutions that developed new smoking cessation products or provided non-FDA approved alternatives to combustible tobacco products (e.g., electronic cigarettes) will not be considered for this Challenge.

Community-derived solutions with a specific focus or impact on populations with disproportionately high levels of menthol cigarette use may take a variety of forms, including but not limited to the following:

Local or state governmental laws or policies to limit the sale of menthol cigarettes, increase cigarette taxes, or restrict the number or density of neighborhood tobacco retailers
Implementation of existing evidence-based practices tailored to groups with disproportionately high rates of menthol cigarette use, including youth, LGB populations, people with lower incomes, and/or racial and ethnic minority populations
Programs to enhance compliance of tobacco sale outlets with laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors OR strategies to enhance enforcement of these laws
Workplace, housing, or school-based cigarette smoking cessation services or programs
Employer or health care-based financial or other incentives to encourage smoking cessation
Public awareness campaigns about the risks of menthol cigarette smoking and/or the availability of local, state, or national smoking cessation resources
Programs that address social needs, such as housing instability or food insecurity, that make quitting cigarettes challenging
Programs that provide stress management strategies to help people quit smoking cigarettes (e.g., mindfulness training)
Programs that offer peer or social support to help people quit smoking cigarettes and remain abstinent

How can you demonstrate effectiveness of a community-derived solution?

Effectiveness of community-derived solutions can be demonstrated in a variety of ways, but effectiveness metrics should reflect measurable changes in behavior of people who smoke menthol cigarettes (e.g., cigarette purchasing or consumption, quit attempts). Metrics of effectiveness may include changes in individual knowledge or attitudes (e.g., greater awareness of risks of menthol cigarette smoking, intention to quit), but these changes alone are not sufficient for this Challenge if they are not accompanied by measurable changes in behavior.

Some examples of effectiveness metrics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Self-reported reduction in cigarette smoking and/or increase in quit attempts among those who smoke menthol cigarettes
Increased use of local, state, or national smoking quitline or helpline services by individuals who smoke menthol cigarettes
Increased use of evidence-based cessation treatments (behavioral cessation counseling, FDA-approved cessation medication) by individuals who smoke menthol cigarettes
Decreased sales of cigarettes and other tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, at the neighborhood, county, city, or state levels, as applicable
Measured improvements in air quality in indoor communal spaces (e.g., public housing) where individuals who smoke menthol cigarettes live, work, or congregate

Metrics of effectiveness should include data from before and after the implementation of community-derived solutions (e.g., a survey administered before and after a local smoking-related law is implemented). Metrics must include data for one or more populations with high rates of menthol cigarette smoking, including youth, racial and ethnic minorities, SGM populations, or people with low incomes.

Who is eligible to participate in the Challenge?

(Read the official Eligibility and Participation rules below.)

Definitions

Participant Organization. The organization that submits the community-derived solution to the Challenge. This organization must have been responsible for developing, implementing, delivering, or enforcing the solution.
Primary Point of Contact. The individual who submits the solution on behalf of the Participant Organization and is responsible for all communications with NIH.
Collaborating Organization/Agency. Agencies or organizations that worked with the Participant Organization to develop, implement, deliver, enforce, or evaluate the solution.

Eligibility

Participation in ODP's Quit & Thrive Challenge is open to Participant Organizations that maintain a primary place of business in the United States, are not institutions of higher learning, and (at the time of submission) are not listed as the primary awardee on an active NIH grant, cooperative agreement, Other Transaction, or contract award. Grassroots and unincorporated organizations are eligible to apply if they meet all other Eligibility and Participation Requirements, including that their work is not supported by an active grant, cooperative agreement, Other Transaction, or contract award issued by NIH or other federal agency.

For the purposes of this Challenge, an “institution of higher learning” means a “college, university, or similar institution, including a technical or business school, offering postsecondary level academic instruction that leads to an associate or higher degree if the school is empowered by the appropriate State education authority under State law to grant an associate or higher degree. When there is no State law to authorize the granting of a degree, the school may be recognized as an institution of higher learning if it is accredited for degree programs by a recognized accrediting agency. Such term shall also include an educational institution which is not located in a State, which offers a course leading to a standard college degree, or the equivalent, and which is recognized as such by the secretary of education (or comparable official) of the country or other jurisdiction in which the institution is located.” [38 U.S.C. § 3452(f)].

Examples of eligible Participant Organizations include but are not limited to the following:

State and local tobacco control agencies
Other state or local governmental agencies such as departments of public health, housing, parks and recreation, transportation, or social services
School systems
Health clinics or hospitals
Patient or consumer advocacy groups
Community-based organizations
Faith-based organizations
Grassroots and unincorporated organizations

Eligible Participant Organizations may submit an entry with collaboration Organizations/Agencies, but only the lead Participat Organization submitting to this Challenge must meet the criteria stated above.