ANTI-DRUG COALITION HAS GOTTEN SLOW START

Director Has Some High Hopes For Clark Program

No one showed up for parenting class one recent Tuesday night.

So Rebecca Smith spent the next day printing 2,000 more fliers and
distributing them through schools.

Only two parents responded, nonetheless, for Thursday's session. Smith was
disappointed, of course. She secondguesses her groundwork, not the
commitment of moms and dads. She will work until something works.

"I've worked really hard on my attitude over the past few years," she said.
"I've chosen to be positive."

Smith is positive that the still-new Grassroots Prevention Coalition of
Clark County matters, whatever evidence there may be to the contrary. She
is its program director and its lone employee, which means she spends far
too much time in meetings. Smith is an eager anti-bureaucrat, however, in a
world of human services belatedly being held accountable.

"I have outcomes to meet," she said. "It keeps me fresh."

Smith will ultimately succeed because she is wed to progress more than to
process. She prefers people work to paperwork. She is glad to be judged by
results -- fewer young people smoking tobacco or marijuana -- than merely
by overtime hours.

"I take it very seriously -- being a steward of taxpayers' money," she said.

To get started, the coalition received $400,000 in federal funds passed
through state government late in 2000. The theory is for the community to
join forces to fight addictions.

With studies and statistics aplenty, Smith guides the coalition using
triedand-true methods endorsed by the government. "They've been
scientifically proven to be effective," Smith said.

Smith, 46, is a divorced mother of two and an ordained Baptist minister.
When she first encountered Community Action of Southern Indiana -- the
agency that oversees the coalition -- she was a needy client, not a
pioneering job applicant. She was out of fulltime church work and was
receiving no child support.

Sensing her novel spark, Community Action put Smith on its payroll instead
of on its dole. "She goes above and beyond," said Phil Ellis, Smith's
supervisor.

Originally, Smith's job was to persuade others in similar straits to save
money to qualify for matching money from government sources.

She built a participant list longer than that of anyone else doing like
duty in the state. "I gave low-income people hope that life's circumstances
could change," she said.

She practiced the money-saving message that she preached, spending her
savings on a house in Jeffersonville.

Smith grew up in Southern California and reached Southern Indiana only
after nearly two dozen moves.

Lynda Wilson of the 21st Century Scholars Program said of Smith: "She's
very enthusiastic. I'm thrilled."

Smith and the coalition entice children to create posters and videos --
even prospective billboards -- with contests to promote a healthy
lifestyle. The coalition also makes sure that middle school students learn
lessons in life skills and that they attend a performance of "School
Colors," a provocative play about the pressures young people face.

It is put on by students at Jeffersonville High School, led by teacher Jeni
Herfel. "Professional," was Herfel's word for Smith. "Professional in her
people skills, professional in her ideas. You just can't keep up with her."

Smith remains positive of the need to provide parenting advice.

"She can't let things slide," said her older daughter, Rachel, a 20year-old
college student. (The other daughter, Hope, 15, is a high school freshman.)

Rebecca Smith also will continue to encourage more block watches, another
coalition priority that is off to an inauspicious start. But the coalition
can provide signs and line up training, she said -- again disappointed but
not discouraged.

The coalition's flow of funds will end toward the end of next year, if
Smith and the group cannot make a compelling case for more.

She said she now loves her life and her challenging lot in it. "I feel like
we're just getting started," she said. "We've laid the groundwork. I'm
exhausted, but these are times of real satisfaction."