National Guard Youth ChalleNGe: Program Progress in 2018-2019

The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a residential, quasi-military program for youth ages 16 to 18 who are experiencing academic difficulties and exhibiting problem behaviors inside and/or outside school, have either dropped out or are in jeopardy of dropping out of their high school, and, in some cases, have had run-ins with the law. The ChalleNGe program is 17.5 months in length, broken into a 5.5-month Residential Phase (comprising a two-week acclimation period, called Pre-ChalleNGe, and the five-month ChalleNGe) followed by a12-month Post-Residential Phase. During the Post-Residential Phase, graduates may continue their education, find employment, enlist in the military, or undertake some combination of these. Each graduate has a mentor whose role is to provide advice, assist with the transition after ChalleNGe, and provide monthly reports back to the program about the graduates placement(i.e., education, employment, military). Graduates and mentors are expected to meet regularly. Participating states operate the program, which began in the mid-1990s, with supporting federal funds and oversight from the state National Guard organizations. There are currently 39 sites in 28 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. More than 230,000 young people have taken part in the ChalleNGe program, and close to 175,000 have completed the program. ChalleNGes stated mission is to intervene in and reclaim the lives of 1618-year-old high school dropouts, producing program graduates with the values, life skills, education, and self-discipline necessary to succeed as productive citizens (National Guard Youth ChalleNGe, 2015, p. 2). The program delivers a yearly, congressionally mandated report documenting progress;the data and information in this report support this requirement.