Jessica has twenty years of experience in substance misuse prevention, including thirteen years conducting training and technical assistance to prevention block grant providers, law enforcement, coalitions and collaboratives in Illinois and North Carolina. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Illinois Wesleyan University and a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  She has a passion for assessing, planning, delivering and evaluating effective evidence-based primary prevention strategies and collaborating with statewide entities to create healthier North Carolina communities. From 2016-2018 she focused on training, TA and instructional design roles at the NC Training and TA Center and in May 2018 moved to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Mental Health as the Prevention Block Grant Manager.  Since October 2018, she has served as the Interim Prevention Section Chief.