Text 4356, 107 rader
Skriven 2007-04-12 23:31:08 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0704121) for Thu, 2007 Apr 12
====================================================

===========================================================================
Mrs. Laura Bush Hosts Third Regional Conference on Helping America's Youth
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release OFFICE OF THE FIRST LADY April 12, 2007

Mrs. Laura Bush Hosts Third Regional Conference on Helping America's Youth
Nashville, TN


˙˙˙˙˙ Mrs. Bush's Remarks at Helping America's Youth Regional Conference
˙˙˙˙˙ Fact Sheet: A Commitment to Helping America's Youth ˙˙˙˙˙ Helping
America's Youth

Panels Focus on Challenges Facing At-Risk Boys and Military Youth of
Deployed Parents

Mrs. Laura Bush delivered the keynote address today at the third regional
conference on Helping America's Youth at Tennessee State University. The
Helping America's Youth initiative is a nationwide effort to raise
awareness about the challenges facing our youth, particularly at-risk boys,
and to motivate caring adults to connect with youth in three key areas:
family, school and community. The two-day Nashville conference featured
training on the on-line Community Guide to Helping America's Youth, and
expert panelist presentations on the current status of youth and successful
methods for helping make a difference in the lives of America's youth.

"To make sure every child is surrounded by positive influences, even more
adults must dedicate themselves to Helping America's Youth," said Mrs.
Bush. "Adults need to care - to be aware of the challenges facing children,
and take an active interest in their lives. Adults, and especially parents,
should be reminded that they can teach kids healthy behavior by their own
good example."

Research shows that boys are at greater risk than girls for illiteracy,
dropping out of school, substance-abuse problems, violence, juvenile
arrest, developing learning disabilities, and early death caused by violent
behavior. The National Fatherhood Initiative reports that adolescent boys
with non-resident fathers have lower grades than boys with resident
fathers, and youth are more at risk of first substance use without a highly
involved father. The panel of experts and researchers examined the
challenges facing boys and how fathers in particular have an exceptionally
powerful impact on the well-being of our nation's boys.

Other panel discussions at the Conference focused on special populations
within the Southeast region and examined how caring adults are connecting
with regional youth in Appalachia, the Gulf Coast, and military
communities:

Appalachia lags behind the rest of the nation in the percentage of high
school students who attend college. In Appalachian Tennessee, schools that
have participated in a network of Appalachian Higher Education Centers that
link community leaders, businesses, schools, and colleges for at least
three years have seen the percentage of high school graduates going on to
college climb from an average of 35 percent before beginning the program to
62 percent now.

The Reconcile New Orleans' Youth Workforce training program has
successfully enrolled youth between the ages of 16 and 25 to learn basic
life skills, interpersonal skills and work skills to enable and empower
them to successfully enter the second-largest non-governmental workforce in
New Orleans - the entertainment and hospitality industry.

According to the Department of Defense, approximately 275,000 service
members are currently deployed and approximately 220,000 children have a
parent deployed. The panel of experts discussed how creating a community
network of support for military youth, children can be fully supported
before, during and after their parents are deployed. One such program
highlighted was the National Military Family Association's Operation
Purple; a summer camp program provided free of charge to children of
deployed parents. Since its launch in 2004, Operation Purple and its
sponsors have sent 6,000 children of deployed parents to camp. There are 34
Operation Purple camp locations in 26 states.

The first day of the Helping America's Youth conference provided training
on the Community Guide to Helping America's Youth, a web-based guide to
assist communities in coordinating resources and track effective programs,
to more than 200 community partners from Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas,
Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina
and Virginia.

On the second day of the conference, Mrs. Bush delivered the keynote
address and joined local, regional, state leaders for a speaker series on
the challenges facing youth and the successful methods for positive
development.

Mrs. Bush traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana in June 2006 and to Denver,
Colorado in August 2006 for previous regional conferences on Helping
America's Youth.

The April 12, 2007 regional conference will be webcast live at
www.helpingamericasyouth.gov . In addition, community leaders, parents,
youth program practitioners and others gathered in their own communities
across the region on April 12th to discuss issues impacting youth in their
areas and view the Helping America's Youth regional conference via webcast.

For more information on the initiative, please visit
www.helpingamericasyouth.gov .

# # #

===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/04/20070412-1.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)