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National Guard ChalleNGe Program

Program Information

Popular name

National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program

Program Number

12.404

Program objective

This is a non discretionary program. The Secretary of Defense, acting through the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, has authorized the conduct of this Program, and the use of the National Guard to provide military-based training, including supervised work experience in service to the community and conservation projects, for civilian youth who are credit deficient and/or cease to attend secondary school before graduating so as to improve the life skills and employment potential of such youth.

Program expenditures, by FY (2023 - 2025)

This chart shows obligations for the program by fiscal year. All data for this chart was provided by the administering agency and sourced from SAM.gov, USASpending.gov, and Treasury.gov.

For more information on each of these data sources, please see the About the data page.

Additional program information

  1. 2021

    Added additional Youth Challenge Programs within National Guard

  2. 2024

    We increased the number of individuals participating in the Youth ChalleNGe Program by 1,000, for a total 8,000 participants for the fiscal year.

Single Audit Applies (2 CFR Part 200 Subpart F):

For additional information on single audit requirements for this program, review the current Compliance Supplement.

OMB is working with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and agency offices of inspectors general to include links to relevant oversight reports. This section will be updated once this information is made available.

2 CFR XI CNGBI 9101.00 NGB Policy 5-1 DoDI 1025.08 as applied within the actual Cooperative Agreement Award As well as in each individual award

Program details

Program types

Eligible beneficiaries

  • Education (13+)
  • Education (9-12)
  • Individual/Family
  • Specialized group (e.g. health professionals, students, veterans)
  • Student/Trainee
  • Youth (16-21)

Additional resources