Norton Statement on the Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Ribbon Cutting

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released the following statement on today's ribbon cutting for the new Youth ChalleNGe Academy, which will be the site for the G.E.D. alternative Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe program, a partnership between the District of Columbia, the D.C. National Guard and the federal government. (Norton had to manage two of her bills in committee hearings today and therefore was unable to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Her remarks were delivered by her District Director, Raven Reeder)

Remarks of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton at the Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony on July 10, 2013

I deeply regret that I must manage two of my own bills in committee today, preventing me from attending this ribbon cutting, which I have worked to help achieve for years with my good friend Major Gen. Errol R. Schwartz, Commanding General of our District of Columbia National Guard. I appreciate that Mayor Vincent Gray, for whom this facility also has been a priority, and that my good friend Senator Mary Landrieu, whose assistance was key, are to be here to celebrate the opening of our city's own Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy.

More than anyone, General Schwartz has carried the Youth Challenge program as a labor of love. Youth ChalleNGe is an expression of his devotion to our youth and to our city. His vision of the program, already successful in other jurisdictions, is shaped by his understanding of D.C. youth, ages 16-18, perhaps their most vulnerable ages. What is perhaps most important to D.C. is the demonstrated educational benefits of the Youth ChalleNGe program nationwide: 75% receiving a GED and 34% going on to higher education. Youth ChalleNGe is one of the few programs that have been shown to consistently produce results for at-risk youth. I look forward to many of the 175 in the inaugural class taking advantage of the District of Columbia Tuition Assistance Grant Program.

So insistent was General Schwartz that D.C. our youngsters have access to Youth ChalleNGe that he squeezed our D.C. kids into the Maryland/D.C. partnership program. As a result, over 600 D.C. youth have already graduated from the Maryland/DC partnership, and the Academy has already created sustainable partnerships with the University of the District of Columbia, Howard University, and D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. Today, however, we proudly open our own Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy. Our thanks and congratulations to General Schwartz, Mayor Gray, Senator Landrieu and all who got us to today's much-awaited opening.

Published: July 10, 2013