Youth Education/Skills-Building Program

Since 1987, this Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs (ATOD) and violence prevention program has been offered to schools in the greater Chicago area. A team of facilitators and prevention specialists from The Prevention Partnership provides training to students in the 5th to 12th grades. This training focuses on communication skills, anger management, violence prevention, and how to say no to drug and alcohol use and other self-defeating behaviors. Training is also provided for teachers, administrators and other staff, and parents, as requested. Students who complete the training are encouraged to share their leadership skills with their peers and family members, and The Prevention Partnership is actually instrumental in arranging opportunities for youth who have completed the training to work and speak at various community events. This project is mainly funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Community Health and Prevention. In addition, the agency has also provided this type of training to health educators at North Western University, Loyola University, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

HIV/AIDS Prevention and Education Programs

Started in 1991 in response to the alarming and under-recognized spread of HIV/AIDS/STIs in African American communities, this programming concentrates on changing community norms regarding risk behaviors. The HIV/AIDS Substance Abuse Prevention for African American Youth Project was one of 47 programs nationwide that targeted communities facing the greatest risk of HIV infection. It was funded by the US Department of Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) under the substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The Prevention Partnership program is now funded by the Illinois Department of Health. In this program, a cadre of Youth Peer Health Educators, trained and deployed in teams, disseminate prevention literature and information throughout their communities. They also present programs, to community, church, and youth groups about the prevention of HIV/AIDS/STIs, substance abuse, and sexually permissive behavior.

The Family Wellness Project

Begun in 1991, this project aims to complement and enhance communities’ existing Head Start programs. It targets families in seven suburban communities (Chicago Heights, Ford Heights, Harvey, Country Club Hills, Robbins, Orland Park and Blue Island/Calumet Park) Head Start programs by collaborating with their local Head Start centers. The Prevention Partnership assists each Head Start center director in training the center’s Family Wellness Team to function effectively and to develop a yearly action plan based on state-of-the-art prevention strategies.

Currently identified risk factors are looked at when shaping these plans. In 2007-08, a grant from the Chicago Foundation for Women afforded the agency to also offer domestic violence awareness training to parent participants of its Head Start programs.

A cornerstone of the Family Wellness Program is the Parent Peer Health Educators (PPHEs) program – Parent Peer Health Educators are selected from the parents of children participating in the Head Start programs. They are then thoroughly trained and integrated into the Family Wellness Teams at the participating Head Start Centers. PPHEs assume the responsibility of assisting in the maintenance, promotion, and infusion of Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug information into the programs. They also promote other health promotion strategies in their respective Head Start centers/communities. Because of their training, they are able to assist the Family Wellness Team in planning and conducting activities for other Head Start parents and community members. Some of the areas these activities focus on are promoting physical and emotional family health, prevention of ATOD abuse, personal skill development, stress relief, and other skills for healthy living. These projects are funded by the Community Economic Development Association and the Illinois Department of Human Services.

Annual HIV/AIDS/Substance Abuse & Health Promotion Faith-Based Conference.

This conference brings together individuals and organizations that are committed to conducting programs or ministries that help curtail the spread of the HIV/AIDS infection and also substance abuse. Due to the epidemic proportions of these maladies in African American communities, this conference caters particularly to them. It provides skills-based training in program development and implementation, grant writing, evaluation, and capacity building. It also offers those in attendance the opportunity to network with others engaged in the same types of outreach work. The Prevention Partnership usually conducts this conference in conjunction with various other organizations, such as: Triedstone Full Gospel Baptist Church; Mars Hill Baptist Church; Total Resources, Inc.; the Chicago Department of Public Health; the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention/Central CAPT; Illinois Department of Human Services Office of Prevention and Community Health; Illinois Department of Public Health; Prevention First, Inc., etc.

The Prevention Partnership Believes in Building Coalitions. We at The Prevention Partnership, Inc., believe coalitions work. Not only do they make our agency feel more connected when dealing with common social problems, but because they provide an opportunity to have input from multi sources, coalition agencies’ positions on controversial issues tend to be more encompassing and, hopefully, more fair. Being part of a coalition also enables The Prevention Partnership to share resources, minimize costs, and correctly zero in on the most effective way to serve our youth, families, and communities. For those of us involved in the human service field, these are sound reasons for engaging in building coalitions.

A coalition that The Prevention Partnership, Inc., established and is the fiscal agent for is the Austin Community Coalition on Underage Drinking. A member of the agency’s Board of Advisors is one of its co-chairmen.

This coalition consists of the following partners:

Alderman Isaac Carothers, 29thWard, Co-Chairman
Larry Williams, Co-Chair – State Farm Insurance
U.S. Congressmen Danny K. Davis – Illinois 7th District
State Senator Donald Harman – Illinois 39th District
State Senator Kimberly Lightford – Illinois 4th District
State Representative LaShawn K. Ford, Illinois 8th District
Alderman Emma Mitts, 37th Ward
Archdiocese of Chicago – Office of Catholic Schools
Austin Chamber of Commerce
Austin Voice Newspapers
Austin Branch of the Public Library
Austin YMCA
Austin Youth Health Educators
Columbus Park – Chicago Park District
Chicago Police Department
Chicago Public Schools
Learning Network Center, Inc.
Hartgrove Hospital
Loretto Hospital
Christian United Methodist Church
Park National Bank
The Prevention Partnership, Inc.
Region 3 Consortium – City of Chicago
Westside HIV/AIDS Regional Planning Group

Another coalition that The Prevention Partnership, Inc., has been part of since its inception is the Westside HIV/AIDS Regional Planning Council (WHARP).

WHARP is officially designated by the City of Chicago Department of Public Health as an advisory body on the state of the AIDS epidemic on the Westside of Chicago. In this charge, it advises the department about services and programs that are needed to assist people infected with HIV who live on the Westside. This coalition is composed of 30 plus members that consist of agencies, organizations, businesses, and consumers (people infected with HIV). It has been in existence since 1990. One of the main ways The Prevention Partnership currently supports WHARP is by allowing the coalition to meet in its office on a monthly basis.

5934 W. Lake Street ~ Chicago, Illinois 60644-1833
Phone (773) 378-4195 ~ Fax (773) 378-8190
Email: info@p2online.org or
info.preventionpartnership.org