House Passes Legislation to Re-Establish

Missouri Youth Challenge Academy

Jefferson City – The House passed HB 2262 & 2264 on Wednesday, April 14 by a vote of 141-3.  The bill, sponsored by Rep. David Day, R-Dixon, would re-establish the Missouri Youth Challenge Academy, which would intervene in the lives of at-risk youth in Missouri.  The Academy, which was originally established in FY 1999 and discontinued in FY 2002 due to lack of funding, utilizes residential military-based training and supervised work experience through the National Guard to teach life skills to high school dropouts.

            “This is a voluntary program that kids can enter to earn some life skills and life experience,” Rep. Day said.  “It’s a great program that’s similar to boot camp, and the kids can also earn their GED.  It really is worth bringing back, and I’m excited for the bill to go to the Senate, and hopefully become a reality in the near future.”

Currently, the National Guard operates 32 academies in 28 states for at-risk high school dropouts.  There are two phases to the academy, a five month residential phase, and a 12 month mentoring phase.  The funding for the Academy would be 75 percent federal money and 25 percent private donations. The Missouri National Guard foundation will handle donations for the program so it would not have to rely on state funding.