July 29, 2005

Mrs. Laura Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mrs. Bush:

Several months ago, I wrote to you regarding your forthcoming White House Conference on Helping America's Youth to share with you details of a program that dovetails perfectly with your goals and objectives for at-risk youth. It is my personal hope that you will consider recognizing the National Guard Youth Challenge Program as one of the best solutions to our nationwide crisis involving at-risk youth, and I would like to request a meeting with you in early August to brief you on this incredible program.

In the past few months, I've had the opportunity to talk with a diverse group of first spouses from around the country, and many of them concur; the National Guard Youth Challenge Program can offer you an example of a program that works. I know that you have already received personal invitations from a number of them to visit the program in their state. Youth Challenge offers its students hope, direction, support and the opportunity to turn their lives around in a dramatic fashion. In fact, one of the graduates our program in Alaska touches your life directly. He is Corporal Andrew Mitchell and he is an airframe mechanic on Marine One.

In your own state of Texas, Eric Capuano graduated from the Seaborne Challenge Corps in 1993 and is now a very successful avionics technician in the Air Force. He is currently assigned to work on the Predator, an un-manned aerial reconnaissance vehicle, which circles over Iraq 24 hours a day providing critical intelligence to our nation's Armed Forces. Eric also tutors children twice a week in an after-school program in his community outside Nellis Air Force Base. From Florida, 17-year-old Felicia Ridgway rarely went to school after the fifth grade. She said two years ago, when her mother enrolled her in the Florida program, she never envisioned herself in college, with an internship and living in her own home. Now, she is studying to be a dental hygienist and plans to earn a bachelor's degree.

Many, many others have flourished under this program, and I have taken the liberty of including a few other biographies of graduates in other states to underscore the program's success. These are stories you can use as part of your own program. The First Spouse Initiative to promote the National Guard Youth Challenge Program, now operating 29 programs in 24 states and two territories, supports your own efforts.

As you know, 2,500 youths drop out of high school daily. Sending one teen through the program costs $14,500, compared with $40,000 for one teen in the youth corrections system. As someone who shares your hopes for a brighter future for our at-risk young people, I hope you will consider the National Guard Youth Challenge Program as a centerpiece of your own effort. This program is an excellent steward of our most valuable resource -- our youth.

Thank you for your continued efforts to make this great nation an even better place for our young people. I look forward to meeting with you personally in August to discuss your goals for the October White House Conference and how our program can meet your needs. In addition, it would be my honor to escort you to a state program in advance of your Conference.

Sincerely,
Nancy Murkowski
First Lady of Alaska