PI Perspectives

Prevention Institute advanced statewide policies for community health, safety, and wellbeing, partnering with advocates to drive health equity and racial justice. In 2025, we supported key legislation, equity implementation, and major wins, while continuing efforts on reparations, climate justice, and equitable public investment into 2026.

Close your eyes. Inhale slowly and deeply, so that your stomach rises. Exhale slowly as your stomach deflates. Repeat. Then, and only when your thoughts have stopped racing, picture your community. What would it look like with greater access to parks and green spaces? What would it sound like? Smell like? Feel like? Finally, when you are ready, open your eyes. This visualization activity took place during the first People, Parks, and Power (P3) in-person Convening, an event that would cement my intuition that I was in the right place in my career. The Convening was the first time I met P3’s

The beginning of fall signals the end of SYNC 2.0, a national effort to build relationships with community-based organizations (CBOs) that support Black and Brown communities with inequitable risk for violence, and uplift the role of public health in building safer communities. SYNC 2.0 Accomplishments Amidst an evolving political landscape, the SYNC learning community navigated the year’s challenging waters together and brought forth six Learning Labs, two open forum coaching sessions, multiple 1:1 coaching sessions, three blog posts, and a SYNC presentation at the National Association of

Amidst compounding Federal funding cuts and perpetual competition for dollars in the nonprofit sector, guest speaker Anthony Smith, Executive Director of Cities United, brought his expertise to the SYNC 2.0 family’s Funding and Sustainability Learning Lab. Funding and sustainability is one of many Learning Lab topics that SYNC 2.0 is engaging in to support its members’ mission of strengthening and uplifting Black and Brown communities with inequitable risk for violence. Smith’s years of experience in both community violence prevention and resource development provided many valuable seeds for

“Follow the money.” It’s a well-known quote from the film “All the President's Men” used to trace where and who holds political and economic power. At Prevention Institute (PI), we advocate for this adage: “Direct the money.” Across California, community-based power building organizations (CBPOs) are organizing residents to ensure public dollars are invested in community-defined solutions to health inequities. In contribution to this growing movement, PI is proud to announce the launch of Investing in an Equitable Future, a project supporting grassroots advocacy and power building efforts to

Lightning flashed across the predawn sky and Gulf-coast sized raindrops began to fall onto sleepy young people as they climbed onto a large charter bus, blankets and backpacks in hand. Three buses in different neighborhoods around Houston slowly filled with high school and college students being dropped off by parents and rideshares for the Students Engaged in Advancing Texas ( SEAT) 2025 Advocacy Day. As the buses traveled northwest toward the Texas State Capitol building in Austin, the sky began to clear. By the time the Austin skyline was visible, it was a bright, blue-skied, sunny day. On

In response to the release of the Governor’s May Revision for FY 2025-26, Prevention Institute joins our partners across the state in urging Governor Newsom and the Legislature to preserve and strengthen investments critical to community health priorities and to identify new revenue sources that safeguard our state against federal funding cuts. We are advocating for the following priorities: Community Investments in Health Equity – The Governor’s sustained commitment of $300 million in ongoing funding for state and local public health infrastructure is a vital investment. However, the proposal

Amid sweeping disruption, how do we hold the line on hard-won gains—and keep advancing policies and systems that create healthier, more just communities? In my day-to-day work at Prevention Institute, I co-lead the Intersections Initiative. Intersections, funded by the St. Joseph Fund, is a multiyear capacity building effort that provides flexible funding, technical assistance, and peer learning opportunities for local partners who are advocating for health and wellbeing in their communities. Since last summer, we’ve been engaging a group of community-based organizations in South King County