MENASHA, Wis. – In the 2000 election, President Bush promised to help Parent Corps (search), a grassroots organization to fight drugs, get started in three states. Congress recently approved spending more than $4 million to expand the group to nine states. The federal funds are used to recruit, train and pay two Parent Corps organizers in each of the states.
"Our goal is to have each parent leader mobilize 400 parent volunteers," said Sue Rusche, executive director of National Families in Action (search).
When it comes to recruiting, the paid Parent Corps moms and dads have numbers on their side. Statistics show half of all American children have used alcohol and one-fourth have tried illegal drugs by the eighth grade.
"Though schools are able to provide an awful lot, in many ways they have taken on too many parental roles, and it would be nice to put it back in the parents hands," said Dana Smith, a parent.
Because drug and alcohol use are issues in every community, Parent Corps hopes to have a full-time parent leader in every school by 2014.
Click on the video box at the top of this story to watch a report by FOX News' Steve Brown.
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