Community efforts to strengthen parental involvement can have far-reaching benefits. According to research on this topic, parents who are involved with their children's education are more willing to pay tax money to fund schools. The overall life in a community often improves, and juvenile delinquency may go down. Service organizations and agencies, religious groups, and individual citizens are working to make communities safer and drug free, to reinforce skills related to good parenting, to encourage people to serve as mentors, to extend learning opportunities, to link social services with educational programs, and to train parents in leadership and child advocacy. All focus on critical needs.
Communities can be a powerful influence on parents and children.
There are a variety of ways that community groups can help increase family involvement in their children's learning. Combatting Alcohol, Drugs and Violence . Each year, thousands of our youth become involved in the use of alcohol and other drugs and engage in violent behavior. Twenty-eight percent of high school seniors reported that they had five or more drinks in a row in the previous two weeks. While drug use has been on the decline for several years, recent statistics indicate that the number of secondary school students who are using illicit drugs is increasing, while the number of students who believe that drug use poses a significant risk is decreasing.