WILTON – Healthy Community Coalition has received a $5,000 grant from the Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine to fund a special project to reduce tobacco use among women in greater Franklin County.

The grant will be used to partner with Western Maine Community Action’s Women, Infant and Children Program (WIC) to provide a group education series for parents receiving WIC. This education series will focus on nutrition, stress management and physical activity and is helps women and their partners develop healthy habits that will support a smoke-free lifestyle.

Healthy Community Coalition received one of nine grants awarded by PTM to Healthy Maine Partnerships across the state. All nine projects funded by the partnership are designed to reduce smoking among Maine women.

“While there have been some tremendous inroads in reducing smoking rates in Maine, the fact is that one out of every five Maine women continue to smoke,” says MaryBeth Welton, the partnership’s program manager. “Because our success with Maine women has not been as significant as we would like, PTM set aside a special pool of money to address this issue and invited local Healthy Maine Partnerships to submit proposals for their communities.”

The grant awarded to Healthy Community Coalition is for a five-month funding period that ends on June 30.

For more information, call 645-3136 or toll free at 1-8000-525-3136.