Young Marines of the Marine Corps League, Inc.

The Young Marines pursues several Core Objectives:

• Advocating a healthy drug-free lifestyle through education;
• Instilling honesty, fairness, courage, respect, loyalty, dependability, and attention to duty to God and country;
• Stimulating interest and respect for academic achievement and the history of our country; and
• Promoting physical fitness

The Young Marines strengthens the lives of America's youth by teaching the importance of self-confidence, academic achievement, honoring our veterans, good citizenship, community service, and living a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The Young Marines promotes the mental, moral, and physical development of its members.

The program focuses on character building and leadership and promotes a lifestyle that is conducive to being productive members of society. Just as important, it is not a program for youths with serious disciplinary problems, substance abuse issues or lengthy histories in juvenile court; nor is it a recruiting tool for the United States Marine Corps.

Here is a summary of the programs and activities offered through the Young Marines.

Drug Demand Reduction (DDR) - Promoting and practicing a healthy drug-free lifestyle is one of the central pillars to the Young Marines program. To that end, Young Marines are required to spend 12 hours each year dedicated to anti-drug programs, including Project ALERT (a standardized substance abuse prevention curriculum developed by the RAND Corporation and used by all Young Marines units across the country) and Closing the Gate on Drugs (a DDR curriculum that was developed by the Young Marines and focuses on gateway drugs such as tobacco and alcohol). Additionally, the Young Marines as an organization participates in a variety of nationwide initiatives such as Red Ribbon Week and National Drug and Alcohol Facts Week.

S.P.A.C.E.S. (Summer Programs, Adventures, Challenges, Encampments, and Schools) – This program engages approximately 1,400 attendees, and includes a wide variety of opportunities including: Cowboy Camp, a National Encampment, a Sailing Adventure, a National Flight Academy and PADI-certified SCUBA Diver and Master Diver courses.

National Director's Special Programs (NDSP) - These are programs that are coordinated or managed through the Young Marines National Headquarters, and they engage approximately 2,000 participants annually. They range from holiday events such as participation in the National Memorial Day Parade and the Wreaths Across America program, to very special opportunities such as the annual Guam and Iwo Jima Reunion of Honor, where the seven finalists for the national Young Marine of the Year Award accompany and assist World War II veterans, at no cost, on this one-time-a-year to opportunity to visit, remember and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice there.

At the local level, Young Marines and Registered Adult Volunteers perform a wide variety of service to our veterans and the community. Highlights include:

• Over 1.7 million volunteer hours served in the past three operating years
• 602,433 hours were dedicated to volunteering in the last operating year alone
• 2,100 average volunteer hours per unit each year

Some Examples of the activities and projects undertaken include:
• Veterans History Project w/Library of Congress
• Veterans appreciation activities
• Toys 4 Tots
• Flag placement & Wreaths Across America
• Community Clean-up
• Ramps for wheelchair access
• Honor Flight Color Guards
• Volunteer mentoring of program members

As noted earlier, the Young Marines benefits from the enthusiasm and experience of more than 3,000 Registered Adult Volunteers who have been trained to manage and coordinate the activities of the 281 Young Marines units around the country. There are ten full-time staff members, and a 12-member Board of Directors.

In 2014, the Young Marines National Foundation was established as a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to raising funds in support of the Young Marines' programs and activities. In addition to providing future resources for growth and expansion, the establishment of the Foundation will ultimately help provide a more diverse revenue stream to complement the federal funding received via a Congressional Program Adjustment. For more information about the Young Marines National Foundation, please see their separate profile on Guidestar.

In terms of accomplishments, the Young Marines is very proud of the quality of its programs and the recognition they have received.

With regard to Youth Drug Demand Reduction, the use of the Project ALERT curriculum developed by the RAND Corporation, the in-house creation of the Closing the Gate on Drugs curriculum to address drugs such as alcohol and tobacco and the focus given to the topic at the unit level have all played a role in the success of the program. As noted earlier, the Young Marines has received the Dept. of Defense's prestigious Fulcrum Shield Award on eight separate occasions.

Another central pillar to the Young Marines is understanding and appreciating the sacrifices made by our nation's veterans to protect our country. It folds into the Core Objective of "Instilling honesty, fairness, courage, respect, loyalty, dependability, and attention to duty to God and country." A 30-minute documentary entitled "Generations of Honor - A Year in the Life of the Young Marines" received a Telly Award in 2016. You can learn more at: https://members.youngmarines.com/Release/91

Looking ahead, the Young Marines still has a great deal to accomplish in terms of expansion and reaching more youth across America and growing the program so that more can participate.

We are incredibly proud to have 281 units in 39 states - but our goal now is to have at least one unit in all 50 US states within the next five years. Similarly, the 9,000 young men and women who participate in the Young Marines and the 3,000 volunteers who work with them are the reason we exist, and we would like to expand so that there are 15,000 Young Marines and 5,000 volunteers working with them.

Our S.P.A.C.E.S. program provides incredible outdoor activities and learning experiences for our Young Marines, but at this time, only a fraction of Young Marines are able to participate due to limited availability. Growing this program so that many more Young Marines can benefit from the opportunities it offers is another goal the organization would like to accomplish. There is a similar goal for many of the National Director's Special Programs.