Legislation proposes Missouri Youth Challenge Academy
A successful program that was cut amid budgetary concerns about seven years ago, may well be back, albeit in a slightly different form, if a bill now being considered in the Missouri House passes. The proposed legislation, HB2264, calls on the Adjutant General of the Missouri National Guard to establish the Missouri Youth Challenge Academy for at-risk high school age youth.
The academy would be similar in concept to the Show-Me ChalleNGe program the Missouri National Guard ran until it was closed because of budget constraints in 2003. The successes of the Show-Me ChalleNGe program had inspired a group to try to save it, but their efforts eventually proved fruitless.
Fisher said a hearing had been held Tuesday and he was optimistic the bill could be passed out of the committee soon.
"I think we'll vote it out of committee this week or next," Fisher said. "Right now I don't know where and I don't' know when."
Fisher said there is a real need for such an academy and the Show-Me program had an impressive success rate, which the new program hopes to emulate.
"It was a highly successful program for at-risk youth," Fisher said. "I think it had an 85-percent success rate and should never have been canceled. Hard budget times make for strange money decisions. With this, the federal government is picking up 75 percent and a private foundation will pick up the other 25."
The ShowMe ChalleNGe program, run by the Missouri National Guard, took at-risk youth and put them in a strict environment with military style units and discipline. Cadets would perform work around the community as part of their training, a huge boost to the local economy. Carol Branham, one of the supporters who tried to save the group and then the city of Nevada Parks and Recreation director, estimated at the time the cadets performed $40,000 to $50,000 worth of work each program cycle.
"That's at minimum wage. We pay more at Parks and Recreation so the cost to us would be much greater if we had to pay someone for the work the cadets donated," Branham said at the time.
Fisher said the funding for the program would come mostly from the federal government, with the remaining money coming from a private foundation to be formed.
"I think the way we have this set up is for the federal government to pay 75 percent of the cost and have the private foundation raise the rest of the funds," Fisher said. "The National Guard will take it on again, it's that important a program."
The way it's set up may be unusual, but Fisher said the legislature is trying a different tack for a reason.
"We're trying to skin the cat a different way," Fisher said. "We can't let this slide, we need to keep moving."