Maria Viviana James moved to Kings County four months ago when her husband was stationed at Lemoore Naval Air Station. Once settled in, she had a hard time finding a good early childcare program for her 2-year-old son Patrick.

With her husband often away on long-term deployment, James said she was faced with the challenge of not just living in a new town where she had no friends or relatives, but also creating an environment where her son could grow up emotionally, intellectually and physically healthy.

James tried a child development program in Lemoore, but it wasn't a good fit for Patrick, who she said needed a freer, more interactive environment where he could socialize with other kids.

One day, she stumbled upon the Armona Family Resource Center. There, the mother and son felt right at home, she said.

"He's my only son; he needs to learn to behave with other kids," James said. "I can teach him reading, but he doesn't stay at a table until I finish reading. But at the Armona center, he's learned to sit in one place and learn. He's learned to do many things he never did before. You can't imagine the happy face he shows when I tell him we're going to the Armona center.

"Teaching him independence and how to behave with others is more important than teaching him just letters and numbers."

But on Tuesday, the Armona Family Resource Center, run by the Armona Union Elementary School District, will close its doors permanently after serving the community for nearly five years. This closure will affect 200-300 families, including James, who have depended on its services, such as referrals, parenting classes and child enrichment programs.

The tobacco tax-supported children's welfare program in Armona was one of three such programs that recently lost funding from First 5 Kings County, after they failed to meet the minimum criteria for continued funding consideration.

But the Armona center is the only one to close.

The Home Garden site will remain open, while the central Hanford site was taken over by First 5 Kings County itself.

"The impact is going to be huge," said Mark Alvidrez, director of the Armona Family Resource Center. "This is the information hub of Armona. Before us, there was literally nothing. If they need the Internet, they come here. Some kind of hardship, they are here. They know they could get that help here."

The center serves around 200 children and families a year, providing them with prenatal care education, parenting training, immunizations, child development programs and food baskets for families on holidays. The center was also known for providing primary and secondary education for adults through a partnership with the Mexican government.

Meanwhile, disagreements remain about the way the funding decision was made.

First 5 officials say the Children and Families Commission decision to cut the funding to the three sites, including $135,000 to the Armona center, came as a result of the re-evaluation of funding priorities. This was necessitated by a need to brace for drastic budget cuts caused by declining tobacco tax revenues, loss of matching funds from the state and the tapped-out pot of reserve money.

But Armona center director Alvidrez doesn't buy it.

Upset with the commission decision, he said the decision to stop funding the Armona center was "more personal than professional."

First 5 officials deny such a claim saying that the decision was based on an objective evaluation that found the center failed to meet the standards.

Alvidrez points to the fact that the rubric used to score each of the family resource centers was authored by the First 5 Kings County staff.

Lisa Watson, executive director of First 5 Kings County, said all grantees were given the opportunity to participate in the development of the rubric.

"It was very important that the commission come up with a tool that was as objective as possible. As part of the process, we invited all First 5 grantees to provide input," Watson said. "The grantees got the opportunity to be present to voice any concerns about the rubric. It's unfortunate that there was no one representing the Armona Family Resource Center."

Alvidrez also said the Armona center, unlike other struggling centers, was never placed on the performance improvement process, which would have given the center a chance to get back on track.

Watson said the center was notified in the spring that it would be placed on performance improvement. But that never happened, because the commission -- facing imminent, severe budget cuts -- had to act fast to reevaluate the funding strategies, she said.

Alvidrez still expressed his dismay.

"I know we're going through a crisis," he said. "But they started the family resource center model. They said in the beginning that they believed so much in family resource centers. If you believe so much in them, why do you want to eliminate two of them? It didn't make sense."

Regardless of how the closure of the center has come about, clients of the center say they will lament its closure.

"We're sad," said Matilda Leon of Armona, whose 6-year-old son Jairo received help since the center opened in September 2004.

"We're going to lose a lot of help, especially with the classes for people who don't speak English. We're also going to lose help in referrals for food, clothes, health and dental."

First 5 is hoping that Armona residents will seek help in Lemoore or Hanford.

"The good news is that we will continue to operate the Lemoore Family Connection. We will open the Hanford Family Connection," Watson said. "Those two centers are relatively close to Armona, and I would sincerely hope that we will continue to serve that community through existing centers."

Leon is still concerned about how the many residents who don't have their own means of transportation will get help.

"There are people who don't drive. Right now they can just walk to the center in the morning and get referrals and take a bus to receive services they need," Leon said. "But if they have to go to Hanford or Lemoore, they won't have the time to receive services on the same day."

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(June 29, 2009)