News « back to news Prevention First Launches Fund Drive CHICAGO, IL – November 18, 2005 – As school children across the state celebrated Red Ribbon Week in October, the state’s leading prevention resource center launched the first-ever public-private partnership to keep Illinois youth drug-free. “Underage use of alcohol and tobacco, and abuse of other drugs including prescription and over-the-counter medications, is one of the most serious issues facing our families and communities,” said Karel Ares, executive director of Prevention First. “We must go beyond the limits of government funding to address new drug problems and help new generations of children.” Prevention First marked its 25th anniversary by kicking off the state’s first privately-funded drug prevention initiative Oct. 20 at Chicago’s Union League Club. The fund-raising event honored the Greater Chicago Region of Comcast, Prevention First’s founding partner for the new venture. “We are already seeing the benefits of our work with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s local affiliate, Prevention First, and we are actively encouraging others to join us in support of drug prevention,” said Joe Stackhouse, senior vice president of Comcast. From cable-in-the-classroom projects where children can participate in online discussions about drugs, to running anti-drug public service announcements on television, to sponsoring and re-broadcasting a Chicago town hall meeting on what parents can do to prevent kids from using drugs, Comcast has parlayed its technology for the good of Illinois youth. Prevention First, which serves as the Illinois affiliate of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, credits Comcast with being a model for other businesses that are now joining their efforts to keep children and teens drug-free. “It’s easy, as a business, to think that the government, schools and parents are taking care of teaching kids about drugs and presume there is nothing for us to do,” said Joni Williams, executive vice president of Kelly, Scott & Madison, a media buying firm which serves as the Illinois Partnership’s pro bono key-market coordinator for media outreach. “ Our partners are finding that the interdependent relationship between communities and businesses makes keeping kids off drugs a sound business practice,” Ares explained. Prevention messages to youth reduce the chances of a child drinking his or her first beer, smoking a cigarette or using other damaging substances. As a result, says Ares, communities benefit from healthier environments, and businesses benefit from drug-free employees. Research by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America shows there is a stark disconnect between parents’ perceptions and teens’ realities about drugs. While only 18 percent of parents believe it’s possible that their teens might have used marijuana, in reality 39 percent of teens reported trying marijuana at least once. The good news is that prevention and the efforts of Prevention First and its partners work. The most recent Illinois Youth Survey shows overall youth substance-use rates down more than 11 percent. Williams of Kelly, Scott & Madison summarized the philosophy of public-private prevention efforts: “Drug prevention is an issue the business community can influence in a major way and our thinking is, ‘How can we not get involved?’ We’ve seen results from our involvement in only one year, and every employee here is proud we are doing this.”