Comprehensive Juvenile Services recently was awarded a $544,426 grant from the Windgate Foundation to construct a new shelter location and move the Western Arkansas Youth Shelter from rural Franklin County to Mulberry in Crawford County.
Bennett Horne
Special to the Paris Express
For some youth services agencies, January is an important month because of its billing as National Mentoring Month.
Janice Justice, the executive director of Comprehensive Juvenile Services, Inc., also likes it because it sheds more light on her organization’s new mentoring program: Operation Positive Direction.
Comprehensive Juvenile Services holds a contract with the Division of Youth Services, which is a division of the Department of Human Services. Alan Wright is their new mentoring coordinator and marketing manager.
The purpose of the program is to provide mentors for youth who face social, economic, and academic challenges as a way of leading them on paths to future success.
Bennett Horne
Special to the Times Record
There might not be much going on in Cecil, Ark., but for one organization what is happening there is very important.
Located at the intersection of Highways 41 and 96 in Franklin County, just over seven miles west-southwest of Ozark, Cecil boasts a population of around 390 residents, a count which includes the Western Arkansas Youth Shelter.
The 14-bed facility (currently set up for eight girls and six boys) is overseen by Comprehensive Juvenile Services, Inc., and provides emergency 24-hour shelter care for youth whose circumstances or behavioral issues make it necessary for them to spend time away from home for up to 60 days.