LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge joined Jonesboro city leaders today for an appreciation tour of the new Veterans Village. The Veterans Village is Arkansas’s first neighborhood providing housing and resources for homeless veterans. Attorney General Rutledge allocated $250,000 to complete the project in January 2021.

“Arkansas veterans have fought for our freedoms and put their lives on the line and we must do everything we can to protect our veterans here at home,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “I am honored to allocate funds to complete the Veterans Village as a small token of appreciation for the sacrifices they have made protecting our nation, especially those who are picking themselves up by the bootstraps.”

“Unless you have been a veteran or a veteran’s loved one, you might tend to underestimate the difficulty of their transition back to civilian life,” said Jonesboro Mayor Harold Copenhaver. “The generous donations from individuals, public and private, including Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, have shown how much they respect and appreciate the sacrifice of those who served our country. This is a critical endeavor to getting some of the most deserving Americans back on their feet.”

The Veterans Village project in Jonesboro was initiated in 2017 with a $1 million grant from the Arkansas Department of Finance Administration and through grants, donations and public-private partnerships the $1.3 million project has been paid off entirety. The Veterans Village is a block of nine new small homes on the corner of North Patrick Street and Aggie Road.

Arkansas is home to 230,000 veterans, including more than 6,000 in Craighead County. It is estimated that more than 500 veterans are homeless throughout the State.