Bill Text: HI SCR73 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The State Of Hawaii Department Of Defense To Continue To Operate The Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy Hilo Campus.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-04-08 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) McDermott excused (1). [SCR73 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2021-SCR73-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	73
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE STATE OF HAWAII DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO CONTINUE TO OPERATE THE HAWAII NATIONAL GUARD YOUTH CHALLENGE ACADEMY HILO CAMPUS.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the mission of the National Guard youth challenge program is to intervene in and reclaim the lives of sixteen to eighteen year old "at promise" youth and produce program graduates with the values, life skills, education, and self-discipline necessary to succeed as productive citizens; and

 

     WHEREAS, the National Guard youth challenge program is a community-based program that leads, trains, and mentors sixteen to eighteen year old youth so that they may become productive citizens in America's future; and

 

     WHEREAS, this award-winning program has been recognized as one of the nation's most effective and cost efficient programs for targeting youth who are at the greatest risk for substance abuse, teen pregnancy, delinquency, and criminal activity; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy's endeavor is to provide the State of Hawaii with a premier progressive alternative school for "at-promise" youth that focuses on lessons in character, education, moral values, life-coping skills, and responsible citizenship; and

 

     WHEREAS, the twenty-two week residential phase is followed by a year-long mentoring relationship with a specially trained member from each youth’s community; and

 

     WHEREAS, the eight core components of the program are: academy excellence, health and hygiene, job skills, leadership and followership, life coping skills, service to the community, physical fitness, and responsible citizenship; and

 

     WHEREAS, seventy-eight percent of challenge graduates receive their high school equivalency diploma; forty-eight percent join the workforce; nineteen percent continue their education; and six percent join the military; and

 

     WHEREAS, program participants donate over nine thousand hours of community service annually, valued at more than $175,000; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy has awarded more than three thousand eight hundred academic credentials; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy's Hilo Campus has been extremely successful in dissuading at-risk youths from causing harm to others and themselves; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy's Hilo Campus is especially important, due to the limited resources available to at-risk youths from east Hawaii island; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy's Hilo Campus is tailored to those cadets from rural areas of Hawaii island; and

 

     WHEREAS, due to budget constraints, the Hawaii Department of Defense is expected to close the Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy's Hilo Campus and eliminate forty-two positions; and

 

     WHEREAS, the invaluable benefits associated with Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy's Hilo Campus, affirm the need for a cooperative effort to avoid its closure; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2021, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Hawaii State Department of Defense is urged to continue to operate the Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy's Hilo Campus; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Adjunct General, Director of Public Safety, and Superintendent of Education.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Hawaii National Guard; Youth Challenge Academy; Hilo Campus; Department of Defense