Guinn’s budget knife spares neighborhood centers program

Monday, Feb. 15, 1999 | 3:21 a.m.

Miller started the program on a limited basis in 1995, allocating $1.1 million to create 21 centers. In 1997, he increased funding to add more centers and to cover operating costs for the current 40 facilities, including 18 in southern Nevada.

The neighborhood centers are designed to help people who need services know where such services are available. Each center decides which special services to provide by listening to the people who live nearby. Some focus on truancy, others on literacy, immunization, job placement, parenting, graffiti removal and English-as-a-second language classes.

Six centers collaborated with the Family to Family Connection, a Miller program that Guinn wants to cut by about half.

Guinn's chief of staff, Pete Ernaut, said the governor retained the Family Resource Centers partly because state officials believe the centers save money in the long run through early intervention.

"These centers are an integral part of these neighborhoods," Ernaut said.

In the first year of operation, the southern Nevada resource centers saw 11,915 people. In the second year, 53,312 people used them.