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Arkansas Department of Military ends Youth Challenge program after staffing, safety and oversight problems
Summary
Department leaders told the Senate Children and Youth Committee they closed the Arkansas Youth Challenge program because persistent cadre vacancies, repeated staff misconduct investigations and safety incidents made it impossible to guarantee youth safety; Arkansas will place current students in other states and cover the state match for those placements.
Arkansas Department of Military leaders told the Senate Children and Youth Committee on Aug. 26 that they have decided to curtail the state’s National Guard Youth Challenge program after long‑running staffing shortages, supervisory failures and a series of investigations into staff misconduct.
Jeff Wood, chief of staff for the Arkansas Department of Military, said the federal Youth Challenge program — a residential initiative for high‑school dropouts — is largely federally funded but requires a state match and strict staffing ratios. Wood told the committee the department could not recruit or retain enough qualified cadre to maintain safe operations and cited multiple administrative investigations and an outside audit that revealed leadership and reporting problems.
"We couldn't recruit and retain our cadre," Wood said. "We couldn't…
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