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U.S. Considers Greensboro Site To House Unaccompanied Minors

In this Feb. 19, 2019 file photo, children line up to enter a tent at the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

Federal officials are considering a former Greensboro private school as a transitional housing site for unaccompanied refugee minors. 

 Guilford County officials have confirmed that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is looking at a Greensboro location as a possible shelter for refugee children.  

County Board Chairman Skip Alston says HHS officials are considering the now-vacant American Hebrew Academy as a potential site.

City leaders say the Academy could easily transition into a self-contained youth facility for unaccompanied minors who are waiting to be reunited with their families or guardians. Alston says in a news release that the site would not be a permanent home for the children.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan says the program could bring between 600 and 800 new jobs to the region, including teachers, interpreters, social workers, and facility caretakers.

Security and medical needs would be provided by the federal government. The program would come without cost to the city or county.

City officials say they anticipate a decision will be reached in the next few months.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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