Prevention First has lost their "luster". They have outdated training, outdated training techniques and are clueless in delivering sound education in the digital age. The agency should be replaced by competent people who really know how to deliver online training, as there is no reason that taxpayer dollars should be wasted on outdated, mandated and ineffective training for grant recipients in the State of Illinois.
I served on the board years ago and continue to support PFI to this day. The organization is professionally run and fiscally responsible. They are faithful to their mission and serve as a critical resource to thousands. Having served on several nonprofit boards, I can say this ranks at the top.
Prevention First is an invaluable resource that has helped improve my professionalism and the prevention strategies we implement in schools and communities. They offer a variety of services to improve the substance abuse prevention system in Illinois including trainings, expert consultation, resource library, clearinghouse and publications such as their magazine Prevention Forum. The service that has been the most helpful is expert consultation, which is when their organization matches up prevention providers with an expert in the field. Through this service we have been able to work with one of the founders of a prevention theory/practice called social norms marketing. This service is FREE to our agency because of our grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services, and if it was not for Prevention First we would not have been able to dramatically improve our services. Over the last 6 years there has been a 10% decrease in students reporting regular use of alcohol and that is greatly attributed to the expert consultation we received through Prevention First. Please support Prevention First in anyway possible because they truly provide services that help improve the healthy and safety of communities across Illinois and the nation.
Review from Guidestar