Nearly all lifelong smokers start as children or young adults, and the tobacco industry targets these specific age groups. A key public health effort to limit the use of tobacco products by people under the age of 21 years is the promotion of the "Tobacco 21" initiative. This initiative promotes and supports efforts to establish bills and ordinances across the country, which authorizes an increase in minimum legal sale age for tobacco products and electronic cigarettes to 21 years. To date, these laws stop short of making possession of tobacco and tobacco products by persons under 21 a crime, placing the direct responsibility on retailers under penalty of civil fines. Public Health advocates from the Toledo, Ohio community have engaged policymakers and community stakeholders to adopt a local Tobacco 21 ordinance. This case study describes the steps students and citizens took to advocate for a local ordinance and describes the challenges and lessons learned from this initiative.