We Catch Them Falling

Every young person lives in a unique set of circumstances. Families are not so perfect. Illness and deaths happen. Money and basic love are often lacking. And some schools do not fit some children. It can feel like a square-peg-round-hole thing. Of course we know that children are not cans of food, nor cookie cutter products, that we produce after twelve years of schooling. Rather, our children are gifted people to whom we owe honor and respect - even when society, a culture, the...
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Every young person lives in a unique set of circumstances. Families are not so perfect. Illness and deaths happen. Money and basic love are often lacking. And some schools do not fit some children. It can feel like a square-peg-round-hole thing. Of course we know that children are not cans of food, nor cookie cutter products, that we produce after twelve years of schooling. Rather, our children are gifted people to whom we owe honor and respect - even when society, a culture, the family, or our neighborhoods let them down. We've got to catch the children who are falling.The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe (NGYC) is a program for children who are at-risk and in danger. From an inept school system to hard-working families whose homes are adultless more often than not, to drug-induced habits and love-needy children becoming pregnant, tens of thousands of our youth are in trouble. There is no one solution. Schools cannot raise our children and 9 out of 100 families cannot raise their own children very well either.What can we do?There are solutions and some of them out of the norm. Ten years ago, the National Guard established a peace-time community outreach called Youth ChalleNGe (YC) to meet the needs of almost 10 % of our children: high school drop-outs. This program is out of the box successful!