Special to the PVT The second-chance ChalleNGe youth program may be coming to Pahrump, according to officials associated with the project. Advertisement

Project ChalleNGe, a second-chance youth program facilitated by the National Guard, may be interested in opening a new campus in Nevada, possibly in the Pahrump area.

Wendi Garcia, fundraising coordinator for the non-profit organization Friends of Project ChalleNGe, said the group attended the 2005 Nevada legislative session and that the Pahrump Valley and Armargosa area were on the list of places being considered by the executive board of Friends of Project ChalleNGe as possible sites for a new Nevada campus.

The ChalleNGe program is a second-chance program designed for young people between the ages of 16 and 19. It is not a punishment program but rather one to give young people who are no longer attending high school for whatever reason a chance to earn their GED, receive further education and learn responsibility for their community and themselves through community service. Recruits also learn basic employment skills and go through a training program that improves their self-esteem and fitness level.

The program is open to all young Nevadans, but because there is no Nevada campus, recruits are sent to the ChalleNGe campus in Arizona. The program itself does not cost the recruit anything, but they may have to pay for travel to the campus.

Although the program is facilitated by the National Guard, there is no military obligation for the recruit.

All participants in the program must be volunteers, unemployed (so that they can commit to the five-month residential portion of the program), and cannot be court-ordered or coerced by parents and guardians to join the program.

Volunteers must also be drug free and not in the midst of any litigation or disciplinary action mandated by the courts. Past transgressions do not exclude a recruit from the program; they simply cannot be in the middle of serving a court sentence or waiting for paperwork. They also cannot be serving probation or parole or have been indicted or convicted of a felony or capital offense.

ChalleNGe holds two classes a year, made up of 20 recruits per class. The recruits are selected from approximately 75 to 100 applicants. The first class begins in January, and the second begins in July. There is a two-week screening phase in which recruits are acclimated to the schedule and issued their uniforms. If they pass this phase, as the majority of recruits do, they then enter into a five-month residential phase where they receive academic work designed to prepare them to earn their GED, physical training, and do community service work such as putting up fences for the Bureau of Land Management and community clean-up projects.

Nevada Project ChalleNGe is currently accepting applications for January Class 28. Those who are interested can contact the Nevada recruiter, Tracy Livingston, by phone at (702) 643-4224 or (702) 326-2819. More information is also available at www.azpc.org.