Buried in the American Recovery and Reinvestment act of 2009 (aka economic stimulus package) is $1 billion for prevention. Join us to hear the story about how $6 billion earmarked for prevention and wellness became $1 billion. This stimulating conversation with two well respected national public health leaders will tell the inside story and help stimulate reflection on how prevention issues are perceived by policymakers. One goal will be to strengthen the public health community's analysis on how to move pro-actively to integrate prevention concepts firmly into this Nation's recovery. Building knowledge about where we have been will help us to be more effective in future work. This first conversation will help us build a strong foundation for a second conversation on April 24 that will examine the state and local perspective.