Our Mission

The Quit Alliance is a collective connecting Los Angeles organizations and LGBTQ+ community members to support health equity and health justice by advancing tobacco cessation and tobacco use prevention.

Through the relationships fostered by The Quit Alliance, everyone involved will have the power to end the influence of commercial tobacco companies on our lives and communities. We will build a healthier way to live life better together.

History

The Quit Alliance was born out of a collaboration between Cedars-Sinai Cancer’s Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) Department and its LGBTQ+ Community Advisory Board (CAB), and the ArtCenter College of Design. The COE and CAB contracted ArtCenter to create a studio, where students were able to develop an innovative public health campaign addressing tobacco use in the LGBTQ+ community and assist folks in becoming tobacco free.

To better understand tobacco use disparities in the LGBTQ+ community, the ArtCenter students attended COE presentations on “How Quit Attempts Work” and “Smoking Cessation Technology in LGBTQ+.” They also met with The Wall Las Memorias to learn about the history of LGBTQ+ health activism and advocacy and barriers to care. The ArtCenter also hosted a panel where students interacted with LGBTQ+ identified community members who have used or currently use tobacco products and learned about how their tobacco use began, environments where they use tobacco, and what could help support them quit tobacco. The end result of this collaborative effort was The Quit Alliance—a resource designed to connect LGBTQ+ tobacco users with affirming community resources to support their journey to quit.

Victor Crisanto (he/him)

Victor Crisanto is the Tobacco Cessation Outreach Coordinator at Cedars-Sinai Cancer, Community Outreach and Engagement and a trained Tobacco Treatment Specialist. In his role, Victor leads an LGBTQ+ Learning Collaborative with the goal to increase the availability of tobacco cessation services through capacity building by enhancing the ability of individuals, organizations, and systems to support effectively and to assist people in quitting tobacco use.

Alexandra Caro (she/they)

Alexandra Caro is a Community Health Associate at Cedar-Sinai Cancer Center’s Community Outreach and Engagement Department, focusing on projects impacting the LGBTQ+ Community. She is a certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist and supports our tobacco-cessation initiatives. In addition, she works on a California Tobacco Prevention Program (CTPP) grant focused on engaging the South Bay’s LGBTQ+ Community in advocacy for smoke-free air and multi-unit housing policies. She comes with a history of LGBTQ+ public health and advocacy work, particularly in the transgender community, and currently runs the Transgender Research Advisory Committee (T-RAC), a subset of the larger Community Advisory Board.