[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 23, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S709-S711]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

 SENATE RESOLUTION 419--SUPPORTING THE GOALS AND IDEALS OF ``NATIONAL 
                      GUARD YOUTH CHALLENGE DAY''

  Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Chambliss, Mrs. Shaheen, 
Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Byrd, and Mr. Bennett) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 419

       Whereas ``National Guard Youth Challenge Day'' will be 
     celebrated on February 24, 2010;
       Whereas high school dropouts need guidance, encouragement, 
     and avenues toward self-sufficiency and success;
       Whereas over 1,300,000 students drop out of high school 
     each year, costing this Nation more than $335,000,000,000 in 
     lost wages, revenues, and productivity over the lifetimes of 
     these individuals;
       Whereas the life expectancy for a high school dropout is 9 
     years less than that of a high school graduate, and a high 
     school dropout can expect to earn about $19,000 each year, 
     compared to approximately $28,000 for a high school graduate;
       Whereas 54 percent of high school dropouts were jobless 
     during an average month in 2008, with 40 percent having no 
     job for the entire year;
       Whereas each annual class of high school dropouts cost this 
     Nation over $17,000,000,000 in publicly subsidized health 
     care over the course of their lives;
       Whereas approximately 90 percent of individuals in prisons 
     throughout the United States are high school dropouts;
       Whereas the goal of the National Guard Youth Foundation, a 
     non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, is to improve the 
     education, life skills, and employment potential of high 
     school dropouts in the United States through public 
     awareness, scholarships, higher education assistance, and job 
     development programs;
       Whereas the National Guard Youth Challenge Program provides 
     military-based training, supervised work experience, 
     assistance in obtaining a high school diploma or equivalent 
     degree, and development of leadership qualities, as well as 
     promotion of citizenship, fellowship, service to their 
     community, life skills training, health and physical 
     education, positive relationships with adults and peers, and 
     career planning;
       Whereas the National Guard Youth Challenge Program 
     represents a successful joint effort between States and the 
     Federal Government;
       Whereas since 1993, the National Guard Youth Challenge 
     Program has developed 32 programs in 27 States and Puerto 
     Rico;
       Whereas since 1993, over 92,850 young individuals have 
     successfully graduated from the program, with 80 percent 
     earning their high school diploma or GED certificate, 24 
     percent going to college, 18 percent joining the military, 
     and 57 percent entering the workforce with career jobs;
       Whereas the National Guard Youth Challenge Program has 
     successfully helped high school dropouts in this Nation; and
       Whereas the National Guard Youth Challenge Program can play 
     a larger role in providing assistance to the youth of the 
     United States: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) supports the goals and ideals of ``National Guard Youth 
     Challenge Day''; and
       (2) calls upon the people of the United States to observe 
     ``National Guard Youth Challenge Day'' on February 24, 2010, 
     with appropriate ceremonies and respect.

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, on behalf of myself and my colleagues 
Senator Lincoln, Senator Chambliss, Senator Shaheen, Senator Murkowski, 
Senator Barrasso and Senator Byrd, I rise today to submit a resolution 
in support of the goals and ideals of National Guard Youth Challenge 
Day and in support of the Youth ChalleNGe program.
  Few programs have been as effective in combating the high rate of 
high school dropouts as the Youth ChalleNGe program.
  Established by the National Guard in 1993 to help at-risk youth aged 
16-18 who have dropped out or been expelled from school, the National 
Guard Youth ChalleNGe program includes a 5-month residential program 
and 12-month mentoring program where participants learn life-skills, 
gain real-life work experience, receive on-the-job training, 
participate in community service and have the opportunity to earn a 
high school diploma or GED.
  Everyone knows that high school dropouts face much greater challenges 
than their peers who finish school. Dropouts have an unemployment rate 
of 40 percent, as compared to the national average of 10 percent. 
Fifty-four percent of high school dropouts were jobless in an average 
month during 2008 alone.
  One in every three teen mothers is a dropout and one in four babies 
is born to a high school dropout. Dropouts have a life expectancy that 
is nine years less than a high school graduate.
  While looking for programs that keep students in school, we must also 
focus on programs that offer our high school dropouts a road back, and 
the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program is one such program.

[[Page S710]]

  The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program has graduated more than 
92,850 former high school dropouts from the program to date, with 99 
percent of them going on to pursue higher education, a career in the 
military or employment, according to a recent audit.
  The annual cost of graduating one child from the Youth ChalleNGe 
program is $14,000. Contrasted with the $40,000 it costs to incarcerate 
that same youth, it is no surprise the program has earned the 
enthusiastic bipartisan support of governors nationwide.
  The program currently operates only 32 programs across 27 states and 
Puerto Rico. Last year alone, of the 18,701 dropouts who applied to 
this voluntary program, more than 40 percent were turned away due to 
lack of funding.
  Unfortunately, America has one of the highest dropout rates in the 
world among developed nations. Nationally, an estimated one-third of 
high school freshmen do not graduate from high school in four years; in 
the 50 largest U.S. cities, the dropout rate may be closer to 50 
percent. That totals 1.2 million high school dropouts each year.
  The soaring dropout rate is a national crisis that costs our economy 
billions of dollars each year to support dropouts who are more likely 
to be unemployed or underemployed, incarcerated, on public welfare, or 
teen parents.
  The median income of a high school dropout is $18,000, versus $25,000 
for a high school graduate, and the annual unemployment rate for 
dropouts is 40 percent compared with the nationwide rate of 10 percent.
  This means that each dropout, over the course of his or her lifetime, 
contributes $60,000 less in taxes that an individual with a high school 
degree.
  Each class of dropouts costs States $17 billion in publicly 
subsidized health care costs over the course of their lives.
  Individuals lacking a high school education also make up 90 percent 
of our nation's prison population accounting for $45 billion of the $50 
billion spent annually on incarceration.
  The economic cost in lost productivity and earnings over the course 
of a high school dropout's lifetime is $329 billion, according to the 
Alliance for Excellent Education.
  Over the next decade, if current dropout rates persist, the economic 
loss to our nation will total more than $3 trillion.
  Eleven States have requested funding to start a program. Unlike most 
programs, the Youth ChalleNGe program requires States to match 25 
percent of the program's cost with the Federal Government providing 75 
percent, and three States with existing programs are seeking funding 
for additional programs.
  The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program changes more than just the 
cadet; it transforms entire families and communities.
  According to the parent of a recent ChalleNGe graduate in Louisiana: 
``I had struggled for several years trying to give [my son] what he 
needed in the way of direction. He had no ambition, no direction, no 
goals for the future, no interest whatsoever in school, and appeared to 
have no grasp of how poorly his future looked if he continued on the 
road he was on. The successes the Youth ChalleNGe program provided gave 
him a self-confidence I've never seen in him before. He realizes he can 
achieve anything he wants in life if he is willing to put forth the 
effort. Thank you for giving me my son back.''
  Our nation can no longer afford to lose ground educationally if we 
are to compete in a global, knowledge-based society. As President Obama 
noted in his speech, ``In this country, the success of our children 
cannot depend more on where they live than on their potential.'' In 
order to make that sentiment a reality, we must not only address needed 
reforms to put our failing schools back on track, but also expand 
programs that reach out to those youth who dropped out of high school 
to ensure that they have every chance to succeed. The future of our 
youth--and our economy--depends on it.
  Do not just take my word for it. Tomorrow morning I am hosting a 
panel and discussion about the Youth ChalleNGe Program in the Russell 
Building, Room 485 from 10:30 to 11:45. I invite all of my colleagues 
to meet some of these remarkable young men and women who have made the 
choice to turn their lives around.
  Again, I ask my colleagues to join with me to pass this resolution 
which shines a much needed light on a program that is truly making a 
difference in the lives of our greatest natural resource--our children.
  This is a happy subject, and one for which I think the Presiding 
Officer shares my enthusiasm, and that is our support of the National 
Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program. Tonight we are celebrating at the fifth 
gala that supports this program, and tomorrow I will be hosting, along 
with many of our colleagues, a panel about the success of the National 
Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program.
  The Presiding Officer was a Governor before she became a Senator, so 
she knows very well the challenges of workforce development, moving our 
young people through high school so they graduate on time with the 
requisite skills to allow them to be ready to go to college or ready to 
go to work. Unfortunately, that is not the case in America today with 
too many of our young people. So we are struggling here in Congress; 
Governors are looking for programs all over the country; educators are 
searching for what works.
  I am here to tell my colleagues that there is a program that works, 
and I thank the Presiding Officer for her support. I also wish to thank 
Senator Lincoln, Senator Chambliss, Senator Shaheen, Senator Murkowski, 
Senator Barrasso and Senator Byrd for cosponsoring this resolution and 
for calling attention to the fact that tomorrow is National Guard Youth 
ChalleNGe Day. But more than joining in this resolution, I hope this 
Congress, as this appropriations process starts for this year, when 
looking to find a wise way to spend a dollar, will look to the National 
Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program.
  This program reaches out in 27 States and Puerto Rico with over 32 
programs to kids between the ages of 16 and 18 who have given up on 
themselves and whose families have given up on them. They haven't been 
arrested yet. They haven't been incarcerated yet. They haven't gotten 
into trouble with drugs yet, but they are on the road in that dangerous 
direction. This program offers them an opportunity to take a different 
road. It offers them an opportunity to change. I am proud to say that 
since this program was started here in Congress and in partnership with 
Governors and nonprofits around the country, we have graduated 
thousands of children from this program with an almost 95-percent 
success rate, which with this group is almost unheard of. This is a 17-
month program including 5 months of residential schooling followed by 
12 months of mentorship. So in 17 months, kids who were headed in the 
wrong direction are literally turned around and headed in the right 
direction. That is because it is a combination of all of the best 
practices: getting them out of their environment and introducing them 
to a new set of disciplines and rules and regulations. It is not a boot 
camp. There are not wires around these facilities. These young people 
can leave any day. It is completely voluntary. But they stay because 
they know they need the discipline. They know they need the focus. They 
know our men and women of the National Guard care not just about our 
country as a whole but about the individual citizens who make up the 
country. Through our National Guard, men and women give of their time 
in terms of teaching and training. It is a phenomenal program.
  I don't know if the Presiding Officer has attended some of the 
graduations, but I have, and I think perhaps she has, and many of our 
colleagues have. They share with me their stories. They say, Senator, I 
have given speeches at many of my college graduations and at many 
wonderful, prominent, large high schools, but the graduations that have 
touched me the most have been the graduations of the Youth ChalleNGe 
cadets. Sometimes a program will graduate 100 cadets; sometimes smaller 
programs will graduate 50; but there are always lots of tears of joy in 
those auditoriums around the country when these cadets graduate.
  I will never, ever forget standing in Alexandria, actually Camp 
Beauregard, right outside of Alexandria, a central Louisiana city. I 
had given my speech.

[[Page S711]]

I thought it was pretty good, but it wasn't spectacular. It was very 
good. I heard a grown man behind me sobbing. I thought to myself, I 
hope I haven't said anything inappropriate in my remarks. He came up to 
me with these huge arms and hugged me from the back and said, Senator, 
I have never known my government to do anything good for me--I don't 
know if I agree with that--but, he said, Today, you have given me my 
son back. I will never forget that as long as I live. That is what this 
program means to parents. It is giving them their children back, which 
is the greatest gift a parent, as the Presiding Officer knows, having 
four children, can have. These kids are floundering in the regular high 
schools, not making any sense to them, because we haven't done I think 
what we should be doing in all cases with them in high school. This 
program works. Not only does it work for the individual, but it works 
for our economy.
  I wish to read into the Record a few of the statistics about what it 
means to our country when we save one person from dropping out of high 
school. These are the statistics. One in every three teen mothers is a 
dropout from high school. One in four babies born is born to a high 
school dropout. The National Guard program has graduated more than 
92,850 former high school dropouts with 99 percent of them going on to 
either pursue higher education, a career in the military, or 
employment, according to a recent audit. The annual cost of graduating 
one child from this program is $14,000. Contrast that with the $40,000 
it costs annually for incarceration of someone who failed to graduate, 
got on the wrong road, got involved in drugs or in a life of crime. For 
a $14,000 investment, leveraging the strength of the National Guard, 
leveraging the hopes and prayers of parents who want so much for their 
children to turn around, leveraging the power of the individual child 
knowing something is wrong and wanting to make it right, I couldn't 
think of a better program than this.
  I have spoken personally to Secretary Arne Duncan about this. I have 
spoken personally on every occasion I can to members of the White House 
leadership team and the education team and the members of the Defense 
Appropriations team. So I am hoping we recognize the soaring dropout 
rate as a national crisis that costs our economy billions of dollars. 
There are programs that work. Not every program that government invents 
or frames fails. So for people who say we can't spend any more money, 
let's spend it on programs such as this. Let's move the money from some 
programs that aren't working as well to programs such as this and 
leverage the investments our country is making, whether it is through 
the National Guard or through other programs.
  The median income of a high school dropout is $18,000 versus $25,000 
for a high school graduate. Over a lifetime, that amounts to literally 
millions of dollars in lost employment opportunities.
  There are any number of reasons. I think I have explained them fairly 
well. I will submit a longer statement for the Record. But again, 
today, we wish to recognize our National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program. 
We wish to thank the National Guard. Not only are they on the front 
lines in Iraq and in Afghanistan and everywhere around the world, but 
they are on the front lines right here, helping us educate future 
military members, future executives, future workforce leaders, and we 
are very proud of the leadership of the National Guard.
  I wish to thank the Presiding Officer again for her support and for 
the support of many of our colleagues for this very worthwhile and 
meritorious program.

                          ____________________