about-face-featured MELBOURNE, Florida—Beginning this July, the Florida National Guard enters its 15^th year of providing innovative community-outreach programs that positively impact at-risk youth and adults in numerous communities throughout the state. Since their inception in the mid-1990s, the About Face! and Forward March programs have provided crucial academic, life and work-readiness opportunities to more than 34,000 Floridians in more than 20 communities.

The programs feature such high success rates—such as increased academic performance and job placement—that the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C., looks to them as model programs to be delivered in other states.

“Community outreach is an important part of the Florida National Guard mission,” said Maj. Gen. Emmett Titshaw, Jr., The Adjutant General of the Florida National Guard. “Programs such as About Face! and Forward March create healthy opportunities for participants and provide significant value to the community.”

About Face! provides youth ages 14 to 18 with life skills training in key areas such as critical thinking and decision making, practical skills such as the development of a personal budget and the use of a checking account, and basic work skills. Since 1997, more than 25,000 youth have used the program as a launching pad to greater academic, life, and career success. Nearly 90 percent of participants who successfully complete the About Face! program evidence improved academic performance. Both in-school and out-of-school sessions are offered throughout the year.

Forward March, offered to young adults ages 18 to 21 since 1998, has provided more than 9,000 Floridians the services they need to seek, secure, and succeed in a high-demand profession. Participants receive instruction in authoring resumes and cover letters, preparing for and succeeding in interviews, and excelling and advancing in the workplace. The year-round program also features an effective job-placement component. More than 60 percent of learners who complete the Forward March program are placed in careers.

Both programs are free to participants, whose eligibility is determined by several social and economic factors. Participants also can earn monetary incentives during the course of the programs.

The legislature has entrusted The Adjutant General of the Department of Military Affairs with the responsibility of developing successful About Face! and Forward March programs. Paxen Learning, a Melbourne-based provider of outcome-based educational programs and materials that build academic and employability skills for at-risk learners, has the contract to administer these vital programs on behalf of the Department of Military Affairs, and carry out the Department's mission of helping economically challenged and at-risk participants excel.

For more information, contact Frederic M. Triplett, About Face/Forward March program manager, Paxen Learning, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 850-528-0684.

For media inquiries,contact

Steve Jacoby
Chief Publishing and Program Officer, Paxen Learning
321-724-4047, ext. 16
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Ken Zeszutko
Zeszutko Corp. on behalf of Paxen Learning
321-637-7080
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Paxen Learning,
710 Atlantis Road,
Melbourne, FL 32904
Tel: 800 247 2936
www.paxen.com