In a wonderful twist of fate, I was at the Presidents' Summit for America's Future in Philadelphia when America's Promise was founded in 1997.  I was part of the delegation from my hometown, Nashville, Tenn., and I remember feeling truly inspired to become part of this important cause and do whatever I could to fulfill the vision of the summit.

Led by Colin Powell together with every living president, and reaffirmed by President Bush in 2001, the summit brought together leaders from every sector of America to bring attention to our nation's youth as America's future.  From that summit came a commitment to mobilize citizens and groups from every sector of this great country to see that every child could realize "America's Promise" and have the opportunity to fulfill his or her full potential.

Today's young people face incredible challenges.  But they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon.  What they need are the "Five Promises," five fundamental resources that can make their dreams realities:

• Caring Adults: Every child and youth needs and deserves support and guidance from caring adults in their families, schools, and communities, including ongoing, secure relationships with parents and other family adults, as well as multiple and consistent formal and informal positive relationships with teachers, mentors, coaches, youth volunteers, and neighbors.
  
  
• Safe Places: Every child and youth needs and deserves to be physically and emotionally safe everywhere they are -- from the actual places of families, schools, neighborhoods and communities to the virtual places of media -- and to have an appropriate balance of structured, supervised activities and unstructured, unscheduled time.
  
  
• A Healthy Start: Every child and youth needs and deserves the healthy bodies, healthy minds, and healthful habits and choices resulting from regular well-child/youth health care and needed treatment, good nutrition and exercise, comprehensive health knowledge and skills, and role models of physical and psychological health.
  
  
• Effective Education for Marketable Skills: Every child and youth needs and deserves the intellectual development, motivation, and personal, social-emotional, and cultural skills needed for successful work and lifelong learning in a diverse nation, as a result of having quality learning environments, challenging expectations, and consistent formal and informal guidance and mentoring.
  
  
• Opportunities to Help Others: Every child and youth needs and deserves the chance to make a difference -- in their families, schools, communities, nation, and world -- through having models of caring behavior, awareness of the needs of others, a sense of personal responsibility to contribute to larger society, and opportunities for volunteering, leadership, and service.