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Skriven 2005-10-28 23:33:08 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0510283) for Fri, 2005 Oct 28
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Mrs. Bush's Remarks at a White House Fellows Alumni Association Luncheon
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For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
October 28, 2005

Mrs. Bush's Remarks at a White House Fellows Alumni Association Luncheon
United States Chamber of Commerce
Washington, D.C.



11:58 A.M. EDT

MRS. BUSH: Thank you very much, Julie. That was a very, very nice
introduction. I really appreciate it, coming from you. Julie does know what
it's like to be a child of the President, and, in fact, George and I know
what that's like, too. (Laughter.) I'll have to say, I think being
President is hardest.

Being First Lady is really a huge privilege. I have the opportunity to meet
people all over our country, to see wonderful things that Americans are
doing everywhere in our country. And then I have a forum, a podium, as Lady
Bird Johnson used to say, that I can use to talk about things that interest
me, and what -- especially, of course, education and other issues that have
interested me my whole life.

So I want to thank you, Julie. Thank you for your grace. I want to thank
Janet Eissenstat for her leadership of the White House Fellows program. And
special thanks to Barbara Anderson for leading the alumni association.

Forty years ago, when President Johnson started the White House Fellows
program, he started it to bring talented Americans into public life. Today,
White House Fellows thrive in every area of American life. Alumni serve in
the halls of Congress and in the highest levels of the military. You are
leaders in the corporate world, and in the non-profit world. Journalism,
academia, and the arts all benefit from the leadership and talent and
energy of former White House Fellows.

I'd like to enlist your energy and your ethic of service in another cause
that's very important to me, and that's helping America's youth. Helping
America's youth is about helping all young people -- boys and girls,
children and teens -- grow up to be healthy and successful adults. Children
look to adults for guidance in tackling the challenges that come with
growing up. Risky behaviors, including drug, alcohol and tobacco use,
violence and early sexual activity, are still among the top causes of
disease and early death among youth. More children are growing up without
an involved, committed and responsible father in their lives. And studies
show that an overwhelming number of violent criminals in the United States
are males who grew up without a dad.

All across America, caring adults are helping young people develop the
strong character to make responsible and healthy decisions. Yesterday we
hosted a conference at Howard University on -- a White House Conference on
Helping America's Youth. And a White House Fellow who works in my office --
Ron Clark -- was instrumental in organizing the event over the last nine
months. And I want to give Ron a special applause. Thank you, Ron. Thanks
so much. (Applause.) And now, White House Fellow Steve Parker will be
coming on board to do -- coordinate all the follow-up work from the
conference.

At Howard, at the conference, we welcomed people who are leading efforts to
help youth across America, and then the researchers who study the
challenges that children face and evaluate the programs that show promise
in addressing those challenges.

One great program that was represented yesterday is in Los Angeles, where a
Catholic priest, Father Gregory Boyle, runs Homeboy Industries. He employs
former gang members in homegrown businesses, including a silk-screening
business, a caf , and a bakery. The young men and women who work at Homeboy
Industries develop job skills that then give them a way out of gang life.
And he said this to me when I visited Homeboy earlier this year, he said,
this is too simple, and it's not -- it doesn't take care of everyone's
problem, but he said if people have stable, secure jobs, it really makes a
big difference, and that these gang members, former gang members -- many of
whom are unemployable because they've dropped out of school, they're not
educated, they've been incarcerated, they're tattooed with gang tattoos all
over their faces -- if they can get a job -- which is what he does, give
them a job at Homeboy Industries -- then they really will leave gang life,
that the anxiety and the fear associated with dealing drugs and gang life
is so profound, even though they might make more money, they'd rather have
a real job.

He also has two tattoo laser removers, and he uses L.A. doctors pro bono
who come so that all of these young men and women, as they work at Homeboy,
can get their tattoos removed, they get the skills from working at Homeboy,
and then they can move on to a real job. He's really terrific, and he's
very, very wonderful to listen to. And when he spoke yesterday, we were all
moved. And, of course, he brought several Homeboy employees with him -- one
of the ones whose tattoos are getting lighter but they're still there --
they had gone to Men's Wearhouse and bought the first suits they ever had,
and came to the White House reception last night after the conference in
their suits and ties. They were really thrilled to be there.

Another great program that I think is a really terrific one for a lot of
cities to think about and try to adopt is CeaseFire Chicago. And it brings
together law enforcement, clergy, educators, parents, doctors and others
with the goal of stopping gun violence. The professor who started CeaseFire
Chicago, Dr. Gary Slutkin, spoke yesterday. And he founded CeaseFire
because of a simple premise, and that is: violent behavior is learned. And
when people grow up in an environment where violence is considered normal,
they're more likely to become violent themselves. And since violent
behavior is learned, people can also be taught that it's unacceptable.

Dr. Slutkin and his colleagues wage an intensive public relation campaign
that includes billboards that just say, "Stop shooting," or have faces of
beautiful children that say, "I want to grow up, stop shooting." And then
they work with each one of these community members to stay involved with
children every day, and to emphasize the tragic toll that violence takes on
families. If schools know that one child is not behaving well or is not in
school, clergy in the neighborhood will knock on his door, talk to his
parents. They all become involved in the child's life. A mentor will step
in to try to mentor the young person so that they won't be involved in
violence. CeaseFire rallies community members to hold demonstrations after
a shooting, to march on the streets, to say shooting is not acceptable in
our neighborhood, and violence won't be tolerated.

And CeaseFire is working. I don't know if you saw the violent crime
statistics, but one of the reasons violent crime went down statistically in
the United States last year was because Chicago had such a drop in violent
crime. And in the neighborhood I visited, when I went to CeaseFire, there
were ten gang-related murders in 2003, and there were none in 2004.
(Applause.)

Other programs I visited connect children with mentors. We all know how
important mentoring is, and I know that many of you probably work in a
mentoring program somewhere. Some of the programs are fatherhood programs
that teach teenage dads how to be good fathers, which is especially
important for a lot of young men, because they grew up without a father
themselves. I've really noticed, as I've visited these programs, that there
seems to be a movement among young dads to want to be involved. They
suffered such a profound loss -- and they know it -- growing up without a
dad, and they don't want to do that to their own kids. So yesterday, we had
several young fathers that I've met at these programs around the United
States, and I find that very encouraging.

Each of us has the ability to bring hope and opportunity to children and to
young people, and as leaders and public servants yourself, you have a
unique opportunity to shape policies and programs that affect children and
young people in your communities.

You might put together a community-based effort to provide safe and
educational after school activities for kids, or lead a job training
program for youth who have no access to the corporate world.

Yesterday, when Elaine Chao spoke at the conference -- I know she's one of
your alumni -- she talked about the soft employment skills that a lot of
people don't know; that is, to be at work on time, to be dressed
appropriately. Those are the skills you can help young people learn, as
they start to look for jobs.

Maybe you're in a position to evaluate programs that already exist in your
community, or to expand the reach of programs that show success. I hope
you'll look at the needs in your communities and where your company does
business, and explore ways you can meet those needs.

One of the great things that came out of the program yesterday, out of the
summit -- and this is one of the things that Ron helped organize -- is a
new guide -- Community Guide to Helping America's Youth, which you can get
on the Internet at www.HelpingAmericasYouth.gov. It went up on the Internet
yesterday. It's a collaboration between several government agencies --
federal agencies worked together all this year to put it together. Every
community can go on it. You can find out when you go on it what's already
in your community. You can assess that you have this many Boys and Girls
Clubs, or Big Brothers/Big Sisters programs, or community health centers,
or public libraries or all the other things that you would want. You can
actually bring up a map of your community so you can log in where each of
these things are -- law enforcement in your neighborhood or in your
community can lay the crime statistics out over this map so you'll see that
maybe you don't have enough policemen on this corner, or maybe you need a
Boys and Girls Club in this community because of crime, or after school
programs, because this community has a high incidence of crime at four in
the afternoon when kids get out of school. It will be a really great way
for each community in the United States to assess what they already have,
and then to try to meet the needs where they see the gaps.

With the guide, members of a community can identify the challenges that
children face, and the services that are already there, and then the guide
directs communities to programs and resources that can meet those needs.
The programs and resources that are currently on the guide are all
research-based. They have research to show that they're effective. And so
far there are about 180 programs catalogued on the guide, although as
communities meet and assess their needs, they can also type in their own
programs that they know are effective.

As White House Fellows, you've already demonstrated your interest in
strengthening your communities and your country. And by helping America's
youth, you can have a direct impact, as you all know, on America's future.
You may even find that a child you reach today will join you at a White
House Fellows alumni event in the future.

Thank you all so much. Thank you for everything you do. (Applause.)

END 12:11 P.M. EDT

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