Our Journey

Since the early 2000s, Prevention Institute (PI) has used policy advocacy as a tool to advance health, safety, and wellbeing. At a time when much of the public health field was focused on individualized treatment, treating illness and injury after it already occurred, PI saw policy as a tool to promote and bridge upstream prevention for community health.

Our early work in California

With PI’s headquarters in California, our initial policy focus was on local and statewide advocacy. As early as 2001, we convened a coalition that secured major policy wins, including: removing junk food out of schools, creating baby friendly hospitals, and providing new resources for safe routes to school and physical education. We were also an early champion for California’s Health in All Policies Task Force, which works across state agencies to allocate grant funding to advance health equity and safety projects.

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Building the case for prevention at the federal level

In early 2007, PI partnered with the Urban Institute to develop the first ever economic models demonstrating that investments in community prevention could reduce healthcare costs. This work was presented to the California legislature and was the foundation for further work with the Urban Institute and Trust for America’s Health to advance an economic model of the impact of community-level prevention investments. The findings – $5.60 for every $1 invested in community-based prevention— bolstered advocacy efforts that secured funding for prevention in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and informed the development of the Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund, which has allocated over $6 billion dollars to prevention and public health efforts. In 2013, PI established an office in Washington D.C.

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Championing and shifting norms in California

PI has partnered with agencies, funders, and community leaders across California to strengthen prevention and advance health equity. In 2015, we brought together more than twenty state agencies to align violence prevention efforts, shaping the state’s prevention structures and investments. Our 2016 testimony led to the creation of Los Angeles County’s first Community Prevention and Population Health Taskforce, which advises the Board of Supervisors on community health priorities. In 2017, we released Maintaining Our Gains, calling on communities and policymakers to adopt proactive strategies for a fair and healthy California. Most recently, in 2020, we partnered with health funders to publish Beyond Screening, which recommends policies to address adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress by investing in housing, paid family leave, and restorative justice.

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Advancing prevention, health equity, and racial justice through policy

Guided by more than 25 years of experience developing deep partnerships with communities, health systems, philanthropy, and government, PI continues to champion community-driven policies that address systemic inequities, strengthen protective factors, and improve the conditions that shape health, safety, and wellbeing. Our advocacy now extends from California to Texas—through our Houston office—and at the federal level, while continuing to support local efforts nationwide through communities of practice, capacity building, and coalition partnerships. Read more about our current advocacy efforts below/in the other sections/linked here.