Youth ChalleNGe Academy
The Georgia National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Academies at Fort Stewart in Hinesville and Fort Gordon in Augusta add solid value to the state and to local communities. The YCA program began in September 1993 and has since graduated more than 11,000 at-risk youth into the work force, the military or further educational efforts. This 11,000 number is more impressive when one considers that it translates to more than 10% of the total YCA graduates for the entire country and that Georgia was the third state in the country to reach the 10,000 graduate mark. The academies are designed for 16-18 year-olds who have dropped out of high school without a diploma. Candidates who become residential cadets in the program enter a challenging 22-week intensive general educational development (GED) preparation program, get thorough training in military discipline and structure, attain a grounding in the U.S. Constitution, achieve completion of service learning projects, and have exposure to a multitude of life skills classes. Each academy campus is funded for a yearly target of 425 graduates. Each academy generally exceeds its graduation target in two classes each year, making a total of four classes and reaching a total state goal of 850 graduates per year. In addition, the overall achievement rate for diploma attainment is above 70 percent, which is phenomenal given that each class is 100% comprised of high school dropouts. This percentage of GED attainment is almost double what this age group is able to achieve outside of YCA. More than 55 percent of YCA graduates go on to enter the work force, about 25 percent seek further education, and almost 20 percent enter some branch of military service. In fact, Georgia YCA graduates have attended Emory University; The Citadel; The Law School of Charleston; Georgia State University; Georgia Southern University; East Georgia College; Georgia Military College; Paine College, Augusta Technical College, Savannah Technical College, Brewton-Parker College, and other institutions. YCA graduates have become pilots, medical doctors, attorneys, top NCOs and officers in the military, and many police officers including one police chief. The added value to Georgia and local communities could be summed up with three examples: the thousands of graduates who now can go on to lead productive lives as participatory citizens; the value of the community service performed by YCA cadets in Georgia averaging over half-a million dollars per year; and the final results of a cost analysis done by the Rand Corporation, which concluded that for every dollar invested in the program, there was a return of two dollars and sixty cents.
39 | Georgia Department of Defense