FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, March 26, 2003

CONTACT: Jennifer de Vallance 202-395-6618

 

MICHIGAN'S SIS WENGER APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT BUSH TO
WHITE HOUSE ADVISORY COMMISSION ON DRUG-FREE COMMUNITIES

 

(Washington, D.C.) - President Bush has appointed Michigan's Sis Wenger to serve on the White House Advisory Commission on Drug-Free Communities.  The Commission provides input and expertise on the Drug-Free Communities program, a federal initiative that provides resources to local organizations working to reduce substance abuse in their communities. 

 

Ms. Wenger is the Executive Director of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA).  She directs NACoA's education and advocacy efforts to bring attention and help to the nation's minor children of alcohol and drug abusers.  The recipient of many awards, Sis was honored twice by President Ronald Reagan for her leadership in the development of multiple alcohol and drug abuse community coalitions, and comprehensive school-based student assistance programs in Southeast Michigan.  She also was the recipient of the Senator Harold Hughes 2000 Memorial Award for Translating Research into Practice, given by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.  She has been a child advocate for over twenty years.  She holds a BA from Mary Manse College.

 

John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy, and President Bush's “Drug Czar” said, “Sis Wenger is an effective advocate with a history of public service in preventing and reducing illegal drug abuse.  For more than two decades she has led and supported community solutions to drug and alcohol problems. Her service on the Commission will be a tremendous asset to our national, state, and local efforts to reduce substance abuse.”

Since 1998, the Drug-Free Communities Program, operated by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, has awarded more than $143 million in matching grants of up to $100,000 per year to community coalitions in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands.  Currently 531 communities are receiving DFC funding.  In December of 2001, Congress passed and the President signed into a law a five-year extension of the Drug-Free Communities Act, authorizing an additional $399 million in funds through FY 2007.

 

For more information about the Drug-Free Communities program, please visit www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov