The campus of a highly praised program run by the National Guard in Roswell is in line to receive some $2 million in state funding for facility work.
The New Mexico National Guard Youth Challenge Academy, located at 131 Earl Cummings Loop, is part of a national program for at-risk youth focusing on 16- to 18-year-old male and female high school dropouts interested in military training.
The goal of the program is to produce graduates with the values, skills, and self-discipline “necessary to succeed as adults.”
Earlier this year, members of the New Mexico State Legislature approved funding for renovation of a main structure on the academy’s campus. That capital outlay was subsequently approved by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
The $2 million appropriation is one of 32 projects for Chaves County winning approval this spring, representing just under $17 million in spending.
The largest capital outlay, at $3 million, is going for improvements to the Roswell Air Center, which was built during World War II as the Roswell Army Airfield and is five miles to the south of downtown Roswell at 1 Jerry Smith Circle.
Other projects, especially for Chaves County, include the relocation of the Pecos Regional Communications Center in the county’s main administration building at 1 St. Mary’s Place; and $590,000 to renovate the Chaves Coop Extension Service Building at 200 E. Chisum Street.
The county is also receiving up to $500,000 for flood control canal work at the Macho Draw site some 12 miles to the north of Roswell.
By Garry Boulard
