dcnational2A community-based program that leads, trains and mentors at-risk youth in the District of Columbia recently underwent renovations to its two dormitories in an effort to help create an environment conducive to learning and that is consistent with military-style cadet training conducted in the National Guard program.

The Washington D.C. National Guard’s Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy, located at the Oak Hill Campus in Laurel, MD, is an award-winning program that has been recognized as one of the nation’s most effective preventative programs for youth at risk for substance abuse, delinquency and criminal activity. The 30-acre, 14-building campus has undergone substantial improvements, including the complete dormitory renovation earlier this year.

Prior to these renovations, Norix consultative sales specialists Joe Eustace and David MacKinnon presented furniture recommendations to Director R. Owen Johnson Jr.; Youth Program Coordinator Raynald Blackwell and associates from the Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Program.

This included viewing the product in a mobile showroom that Eustace and MacKinnon brought to the site, and a room mock-up that was evaluated at D.C. National Guard headquarters. Specifications were established with Norix’s Titan® Series steel dormitory furniture as the basis of design.

Titan® Series products – proven successful in several U.S. Army training facilities – were selected because of their extreme durability, and appropriateness for the cadet-style program setting. The Norix professional installation team installed the furnishings in the summer of 2013.

dcnational1The newly renovated Youth ChalleNGe Academy opened on July 10, 2013. The new facility established an environment conducive to the goals of the Youth ChalleNGe program – to chart the cadets’ path to responsibility and contribution to their community.

“This academy is a new lease on life for the youth of D.C., but also for the Oak Hill facility,” Maj. Gen. Errol R. Schwartz, commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This campus was once a jail and once sat abandoned. Now hundreds of D.C. youths will find a second chance to put their lives on track towards college, work and productive citizenship.”

Download our case study to learn more about the facility, the renovation project and the Norix products installed at the academy.

Dustin Coleman is a brand journalist for Norix Furniture and a contributor to the Safe Environments blog.