> Our youth need direction, purpose, and hope.

To be fair that is kinda the point of the service year option. A lot of kids tend to burn out and give up as they get older when they come to the realization of their circumstances and start to question their pathway after high school. And a service year option provides direction, mentorship, paid stipends, purpose, and value for the community. That is usually the point of partnerships, where multiple stakeholders are invested in a program, and everybody wins.

And by having a program after you complete high school, it could right the ship before it veers off course for a lot of students. As opposed to them finding alternatives to their situation, coping with the fact all that work was for nothing, and blaming society, which often, of course, is influenced by peer groups that promote bad behavior leading to negative outcomes.