The National Guard Youth Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia, has announced a gift of software and other resources valued at $4.7 million from Microsoft through the software giant's YouthSpark initiative.

The in-kind donation will be used to strengthen the job training and skill development resources of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program, which enables youth between the ages of 16 and 18 who have dropped out of school to gain life skills and earn a high school diploma, GED, or return to school to graduate with their peers. Since its launch in 1993, the seventeen-month-long program has expanded to thirty-four locations in twenty-seven states and Puerto Rico and has helped more than 115,000 high school dropouts access education and workforce development initiatives.

"We are deeply grateful for Microsoft's generous investment in the National Guard Youth Foundation and for its national leadership on empowering youth," said National Guard Youth Foundation board chair Gen. Craig McKinley, USAF (Ret.). "ChalleNGe provides young people the opportunity to improve their life skills, education, and employability. This donation will be instrumental in providing resources that help ChalleNGe cadets prepare for a future of success."