00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 7                                                                                           
01 Supporting continued funding of the Alaska National Guard Youth Corps                                                   
02 Challenge Program.                                                                                                      
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04  WHEREAS the Alaska National Guard Youth Corps Challenge Program has provided                                           
05 nearly three hundred 16 to 18 year old graduates of the program with critically needed                                  
06 academic, vocational, and life skills education and training; and                                                       
07  WHEREAS the Challenge Program, through its military discipline and structure, has                                      
08 instilled in its graduates self-confidence, self-esteem, and good citizenship skills; and                               
09  WHEREAS the Challenge Program provides Alaska's at-risk youth with an                                                  
10 opportunity to become successful, productive citizens of the state and the nation; and                                  
11  WHEREAS the Challenge Program is an important crime and poverty prevention                                             
12 program worthy of continued support by the government of the United States; and                                         
13  WHEREAS 85 percent of the graduates of the Challenge Program are either employed                                       
14 or in school; and                                                                                                       

01  WHEREAS federal funding for the Challenge Program is scheduled to end in                                               
02 September 1997;                                                                                                         
03  BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports continued funding for                                        
04 the Alaska National Guard Youth Corps Challenge Program; and be it                                                      
05  FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                             
06 Congress to continue funding for the Alaska National Guard Youth Corps Challenge Program                                
07 and urges the President of the United States to support the funding.                                                    
08  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the                                
09 United States; to the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President                         
10 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, President Pro Tempore of the U.S.                                     
11 Senate; the Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; and to                               
12 the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the                                     
13 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.