Legislative declaration

(1) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that: (a) The need for educating at-risk or disruptive youth is well established; (b) Recognizing the need for special programs to address positive youth development, the United States congress authorized and appropriated moneys for the use of National Guard or other facilities and equipment for the provision of a program designed to improve the employment potential and life skills of eligible youth through National Guard youth challenge corps programs; and (c) An evaluation of similar programs for eligible youth operating in other states indicates that: (I) Eighty percent of the students accepted into these programs went on to graduate from the programs; (II) Eighty percent of the students in these programs were placed in schools or employed at the time of graduation from the programs; (III) Eighty percent of the students in these programs successfully completed a high school equivalency examination, either during the time in which they were participating in the programs or within one year after graduating from the programs; and (IV) Less than one percent of the students who participated in these programs were incarcerated within one year after graduating from the programs. (2) Therefore, the general assembly hereby finds and declares that it would be in the best interest of the people of the state of Colorado to authorize the department to operate a youth challenge corps program and to take advantage of the opportunity to use National Guard or other facilities and equipment and any federal funding that may be available for such a program as authorized by federal law.