During 2025, Devon Community Foundation worked in partnership with Devon County Council’s Public Health team to deliver the first round of grant funding linked to Devon’s Smokefree Generation programme, designed to support people least likely to engage with traditional services.
Delivering this programme raised an important question: could working together allow us to shape a funding model which enabled VCSE organisations working closely with under-served groups, to deliver effective public health interventions outside their usual area of expertise?
The answer has been a resounding yes.
Over the last year, we have awarded 10 grants to organisations who have established relationships with a wide range of communities and help support quit attempts from those who it might be felt had too much complexity in their lives to want to address smoking, such as refugees, care leavers and those undergoing cancer treatment.
Focusing on centring these trusted relationships, organisations were given the flexibility to partner with Stop Smoking services and adapt public health messages to the needs of the people they work with, rather than expecting individuals to fit into a standard model of delivery.
For some, this meant introducing smoking awareness into existing programmes. Sunrise Diversity, for example, incorporated discussions about smoking into ESOL classes, and Space Youth Services produced artwork and educational TikToks during youth club sessions, creating opportunities for participants to explore the topic in settings where people already felt comfortable and listened to.
Others, like Wellbeing in Action and Axminister and Lyme Cancer Support, developed new activities such as conversation circles and health workshops, designed to open dialogues with people they already knew well, and facilitate habit changing programmes and tailored one to one support services.
As Nigel Grimshire, from Devon County Council Public Health, reflected:
“I am particularly pleased with the creativity and innovation that has emerged from this work. The level of reflection demonstrated by the grant holders is far beyond what I had envisaged and provides a rich source of learning for the programme.”
This learning has generated insights that extended well beyond smoking cessation, helping both Public Health and partner organisations better understand the wider contexts in which smoking occurs and the role smoking plays within the lives of the people they support. For instance, Freedom Community Alliance found that people experiencing homelessness or substance misuse often viewed smoking as one of the few remaining sources of comfort or routine in their lives. That insight doesn’t simply inform future smoking cessation work; it helps
shape wider conversations about health, recovery, and wellbeing.
Perhaps most important is what this model suggests about the conditions that enable meaningful public health engagement to happen. This first year has reinforced the value of investing in the trusted relationships and knowledge that community organisations have already built with the people they work with. When combined with the expertise of specialist organisations, alongside appropriate training and resources, they create opportunities for conversations and interventions that might otherwise never take place. Community organisations do not need to become public health specialists; rather, they can act as trusted partners, opening doors, starting conversations and connecting people to the right expertise at the right time.
As we enter the second year of this funding, we are eager to see how these relationships strengthen and develop, and how partnership between public health and Devon’s voluntary sector that could have benefits for some of the county’s more vulnerable residents in areas beyond smoking cessation.
To find out more about our work, contact us at info@devoncf.com
