(AP) _ The Arkansas National Guard has halted its plans to expand its at-risk youth program to a vacant federal facility.A National Guard spokesman tells the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette the agency won’t be expanding its Youth Challenge to the Ouachita Job Corps facility because it lacks funding. The facility is located about 12 miles west of Hot Springs in Royal.
National Guard Maj. Will Phillips says the agency has increased the program’s capacity by 100 spots.
The youth program offers life-skills lessons to teenagers who struggle in school or have dropped out. The idea to expand the program came in 2016 when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considered a separate proposal to convert the facility into a temporary shelter for unaccompanied foreign children apprehended at the U.S. border.
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