Voices for a Healthy Southcoast has been awarded a $1 million Community Transformation Grant by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, which it will use toward implementing it’s Southcoast Healthy Housing and Workplace Initiative.

The initiative would be implemented in Wareham, New Bedford and Fall River. The Southcoast has the highest smoking rates in Massachusetts, and a high rate of the health problems that come with smoking.

“The Wareham Housing Authority is delighted to hear that the grant has been awarded to Voices,” said Pamela Sequeira, Executive Director of the Wareham Housing Authority.

“We see elderly and handicapped tenants at the Agawam and Redwood complexes smoking while using oxygen, not to mention the health risks of secondhand smoke. It is my hope that this project will provide an avenue for our residents to quit. I know it will improve their health and prolong their lives.”

The group will use the grant to build community leadership and work with housing authorities and land lords to eliminate smoking from multi-unit housing, mental health and addiction treatment facilities, and other workplaces.

The group also wants to give smokers who wish to quit smoking easier access to smoking cessation treatment.

Representative Bill Keating said: “Health-related issues caused by tobacco-use also lead to increased medical costs for the community as well as the individual. This Community Transformation Grant aims to address these concerns. A tobacco and smoke-free environment is a healthier environment and that is something we can all get behind.”