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Skriven 2007-08-03 23:30:58 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070803e) for Fri, 2007 Aug 3
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Mrs. Bush's Remarks at a Helping America's Youth Regional Conference
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For Immediate Release Office of the First Lady August 3, 2007

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at a Helping America's Youth Regional Conference
University of Minnesota St. Paul Student Center St. Paul, Minnesota



12:14 P.M. CDT

MRS. BUSH: Thank you all, and thank you, Evan, and thank you, Maia. Thank
you for your great speech that you just gave. Thanks, everybody.

Evan, thank you very much. I did have a chance to meet Evan not that --
just a few weeks ago when I was in Mobile, and I'll tell you more about
that later. And I met Maia last -- let's see, 2004, maybe, I think, when I
was here. So thank you all both very much. And thank you especially for
inspiring all the other mentors who are here in the group, who love to hear
the stories about your mentors.

I want to especially thank Dr. Bruininks, the President of the University
of Minnesota. Thank you for letting us have this conference on your campus,
and your wife, Dr. Susan Hagstrum. Thank you so much, Susan, as well.

Thanks to everyone for the very warm welcome to Minnesota. I want people
throughout this state to know that you have the sympathy and the support of
people across the United States. We're praying for everyone who was
affected by Wednesday's bridge collapse, that were affected by the
destruction, by the injuries, or by the tragic loss of life.

We know that this tragedy is huge to your city, and that recovery will take
some time. During the recovery process, I urge people to make an extra
effort to comfort their children. We've seen photos and we've heard the
story about the camper -- the school bus that was filled with campers who
were rescued by their counselor, and also by a bystander who jumped out of
his car and ran back to help the school counselor rescue the children.

Many children here in Minnesota and across our country have also seen these
images. They've also heard these stories. So I urge parents and adults to
reassure their kids that they can keep going on about their daily routine.
They can take the bus to school, and they can ride home in their cars
across a bridge and that they'll be safe.

I've just come from the Emergency Operations Center, where I met with the
first responders and many of the Red Cross workers who have been
volunteering around the clock. They're many of the people who rushed to the
scene when they first heard about it. I met the woman who was water skiing.
She happened to also be a first responder, a policeman. And she immediately
threw her water skis over and got her diving equipment, which she happened
to have, and has been diving since.

We heard about all the other bystanders who just jumped out of their cars
and dove into the water to help rescue trapped motorists, and the emergency
personnel who worked all through the night that first night, and many of
them who are still working today, and about the caring citizens who brought
them water and food while they worked.

I hope that everyone here also will remember those emergency workers. They
also suffer. It's difficult for them to be the ones that have to tell a
family they couldn't rescue their loved one, that it was too late, or to be
the ones who see the families grieve. And so I want to encourage especially
everybody who's local at this conference to remember those emergency
workers, too. A lot of them, especially those big men, seem pretty tough.
But we know they have needs, just like all the rest of us.

Over the last 43 hours, the whole country has seen the strength of the
Minneapolis/St. Paul community. And because we've seen that strength, we
all are confident that the bridge will be rebuilt, and that your city will
heal. (Applause.)

We also see the strength of this community right here at this conference on
Helping America's Youth. The work that all of you do in your neighborhoods
every day -- helping young people build the knowledge and the self-respect
they need to lead successful lives -- is at the heart of Helping America's
Youth.

President Bush announced the Helping America's Youth Initiative in his 2005
State of the Union address, and he asked me to lead it. Over the last two
years, I've traveled throughout the United States, visiting with young
people and with the adults who are so important to their lives. I've been
to schools and to after-school programs. I've met with mentors and Big
Brothers and Big Sisters. I visited sports programs, one in Detroit; a
debate program in Atlanta; and gang-intervention programs in Los Angeles
and Chicago.

All of these visits led to the first conference on Helping America's Youth,
the White House conference, in October of 2005, and then to the first three
regional conferences in Indianapolis, Denver, and Nashville, and now, of
course, to this fourth conference in Minneapolis. At the White House
conference, we introduced an online, interactive Community Guide, which
helps concerned adults learn more about their own communities. If local law
enforcement has mapped your community's crime statistics, for example, the
guide will show you which neighborhoods have the most youth-related
problems, and what local resources you already have to address these
problems.

Many of you learned how to use this Guide yesterday. You saw how its
interactive map lets users enter their own zip code, find out demographic
data about the young people in your neighborhoods, and then locate youth
programs nearby. The Guide's "Program Tool" helps adults find youth
initiatives that research has proven are effective in reducing substance
abuse, for instance, gang activity, and other risks faced by our young
people.

The Community Guide is available on the Helping America's Youth website, at
www.helpingamericasyouth.gov -- that's g-o-v. The site also features live
and archived conference webcasts, which gives me a chance to say hello to
the groups who are watching this conference live via the website, including
120 young people who are attending the technology camps here at the
University of Minnesota.

This week, we added a new online feature: the Helping America's Youth News
Flash. This e-newsletter will provide updates on recent Helping America's
Youth events, it will showcase successful community programs, and it will
highlight adults who've shown exceptional dedication to young people. The
first News Flash, which we released Tuesday, reached thousands of people.
If you know of an outstanding community coalition or a caring adult who
should be featured in the News Flash -- and I'm guessing a lot of you do --
please e-mail comments@helpingamericasyouth.gov .

Be sure to go to the website and sign up for the News Flash, watch the
other conferences, and use the Community Guide. Through the Guide, and
through all of these regional conferences, we're making Helping America's
Youth more local so that we can work directly with community leaders to
address the unique challenges facing their young people.

The challenges facing young people are far greater today than they were for
children just a generation ago. Drugs and gangs, predators on the Internet,
violence on television and in real life are just some of the negative
influences present everywhere. And as children face these dangers, they
often have fewer people to turn to for help. More children are raised in
single-parent families, most often without a father. Millions of children
have one or both parents in prison. Many boys and girls spend more time
alone or with their peers than they do with any member of their family.

This afternoon, we'll learn about the difficulties facing children and
teens here in the northern region -- especially Native American youth. In
St. Paul, half of American Indian households are led by single women.
Native Americans have the largest absenteeism rate in St. Paul public
schools, and dropout rates are high.

St. Paul's American Indian leaders are determined to overcome these
challenges. Many of these leaders are here today, including representatives
from St. Paul's Native American community partnership.

Over the last two decades, this community coalition has worked to address
the full range of problems facing Native American youth. Young people can
now find shelter at the Ain Dah Yung Center. Struggling students receive
after-school tutoring through the Department of Indian Work. The First
Nation Sports Initiative at the American Indian Family Center -- and the
community powwows at the American Indian Magnet School -- provide children
with recreation and fellowship. The St. Paul Public Schools offer college
planning through their Indian Education Program.

Private citizens, too, are doing their part: One community leader, Elona
Street-Stewart, remembers a grandmother who took in 10 foster children. She
nurtured them and provided them with a stable home -- seeing these children
through to their high school graduation.

The St. Paul partnership shows how all sectors of the community -- schools,
religious groups, governments, and service organizations -- can come
together to improve the lives of young people. Leaders say that school
attendance has improved, and that test scores have risen. The coalition is
also helping Native elders pass on their tribes' rich languages, histories,
and cultures to their children.

A recent study showed that Native American young people who are successful
despite adversity report feeling proud of their tribal culture. They
participate in cultural activities, and they enjoy strong connections to
their Native communities, and they appreciate the influences of their
elders. And in fact, we know that all children who have a close connection
to their families and to their communities are more likely to succeed.

The St. Paul community partnership provides these positive influences --
and at the same time, preserves native traditions from one generation to
the next. As Elona will tell you: "We're keeping the circle unbroken."
Elona and the St. Paul community partnerships are here. Would you all stand
please? Where are they? There they are, back there. (Applause.)

The problems confronting Native American youth are among the many great
challenges facing America's young people. But greater still is our love for
our children, our hope for them, and the dedication of millions of
Americans to helping our young people succeed.

To make sure every child is surrounded by these positive influences, even
more adults must dedicate themselves to helping America's youth. Adults
should be aware of the challenges facing children, and take an active
interest in their lives. Adults, and especially parents, should remember
that they can teach their children healthy behavior by their own good
example.

Across our country, I've seen how adults from every part of the community
can make a difference in the lives of young people. In June 2005, I visited
CeaseFire Chicago, where an epidemiologist -- epidemiologist, I'm sorry,
that's a lot of syllables -- (laughter) -- Dr. Gary Slutkin, revolutionized
the city's approach to eradicating youth violence. This doctor treats
violence as an epidemic, emphasizing prevention. Instead of relying
entirely on law enforcement, CeaseFire mobilizes whole communities --
police, youth organizations, religious leaders, schools, community members
-- through broad public-education campaigns.

CeaseFire sends Outreach Workers -- often former gang members themselves --
onto Chicago's streets, where they teach young people who've grown inured
to violence what normal standards of behavior are. CeaseFire encourages
adults -- especially the clergy -- to serve as role models, and encourages
gang members to get, and keep, legitimate jobs. CeaseFire's model is so
successful, cities around the country are now trying to adapt it to their
own communities.

This June, I met a former football coach who turned the loss of his father
at a young age into an opportunity to help other fatherless young men. More
than one-third of children in the United States live without their father.
And research tells us that children who live without their fathers are two
to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience health
and behavior problems, to be victims of child abuse, and to engage in
criminal behavior.

Mike Gottfried spoke to you about how growing up without a dad inspired him
to establish Team Focus, which works to reduce the dangers of
fatherlessness by providing fatherly guidance and support to struggling
boys. Through Team Focus, adult male role models teach young men simple yet
important lessons -- like how to tie a tie, or how to ask a girl out on a
date, and actually have her say yes. (Laughter.) Mentors stay in touch with
boys by phone and through personal visits. They take boys out to eat, to
attend sports competitions and band contests, and they're there for these
boys for those life events when it helps to have a dad.

Mentors can provide a valuable fatherly perspective. Here's a story I'm
sure Mike didn't tell you. Mike remembers a phone call from one of his
boys, who was distraught because his mom had caught him forging her
signature on a bad report card. "Brelon," Mike said, "What you did was
wrong. But let me tell you what I did once. I got my first F on a report
card. I got out a pen and I made that F into a B before I took it home to
my mom." (Laughter.) The only problem, Mike adds, was that he used the
wrong color ink. (Laughter.) Well, after he told Brelon that story, the
boy's crying turned to laughter.

At a Team Focus camp in Mobile, I met Andre Taylor. Andre's dad left when
he was young, and his mom struggles with substance abuse. Andre spent years
moving from one house to another, living with whoever would take him in. He
was a junior in high school, and struggling with his grades, when he came
to Team Focus. After Andre attended one Team Focus camp on a college
campus, he started getting better grades. Early in his senior year, he
called Mike to ask a favor. "I just want one thing," Andre said, "just one
chance to go to college."

Andre and a Team Focus leader, Keith Howard, flew to Mississippi to meet
with a football coach, who gave Andre his chance with an athletic
scholarship. Afterward, Keith took Andre to their hotel, and left to run
some errands before taking him out to dinner. When Keith came back, he
found Andre on the phone. "What have you been doing since I left?" Keith
asked. And Andre replied: "I called every family I ever lived with and told
them, 'I'm going to college.'" Isn't that sweet? (Applause.) And this fall,
Andre will be a freshman at Northeast Mississippi Junior College, thanks to
the caring adults who believed in him. Coach Gottfried is in the audience.
Mike is in the audience. Mike, where are you? (Applause.)

Across our country, caring adults are showing young people that someone
believes in them -- which helps young people believe in themselves. Thanks
to each one of you for doing this important work in your communities. Young
people want us in their lives, and they need us in their lives. And as I've
learned from the remarkable men and women I've met across our country, each
one of us has the power to help America's youth.

Thank you all very, very much for coming today. Thank you for your
commitment to our young people. And God bless your good work. Thank you all
a lot. (Applause.)

END 12:34 P.M. CDT

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