Somerton resource fair will connect families with local services

Families in Somerton can walk into one building Friday morning and find help with jobs, health coverage, housing, legal questions and victim services without chasing offices across Yuma County. The Community Resource Fair runs April 17 from 9 a.m. to noon at 214 W. Main Street, a site already used by Regional Center for Border Health for Family Behavioral Integrated Services and its Center for Children with Special Needs and Autism.

The lineup is built for practical use. Organizers say the fair will include the Mexican Consulate in Yuma, the Arizona Department of Economic Security Child and Community Services Division, the Yuma County Law Library, RCFBH College of Health Careers, SBHIS Medicare Solutions, Yuma County Victim Services, Housing America Corporation, University of Arizona PPEP, Inc. and other partners. For a South County family trying to handle a benefits question, a housing issue and a school or health concern in the same week, that mix turns a short morning into a rare one-stop errand.

The Mexican consulate’s presence makes the fair especially useful for residents who need documentation or protection services. The official Yuma consulate lists protection, documentation, education, health, community-organization, cultural and business services for Mexican nationals and people of Mexican origin, which can be vital for border-area families navigating paperwork, health questions or cross-border family matters. That kind of help is often harder to reach than a typical city office, especially for residents balancing work, childcare and transportation.

The resource center’s location adds to the value. Regional Center for Border Health identifies 214 W. Main Street as home to Family Behavioral Integrated Services and its Center for Children with Special Needs and Autism, underscoring that the fair is taking place inside an established service hub rather than a temporary venue. ARIZONA@WORK also lists a Somerton Resource Center in its Yuma County network, with a specialized site at 201 N. Bingham Avenue, Suite 6, open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

That broader footprint helps explain why Somerton keeps drawing public-service access points. In a city where residents often need help with employment, health coverage, family services and paperwork, the fair puts several agencies within a few steps of each other. For anyone who only has an hour, Friday morning offers a direct route to the kinds of services that can otherwise take a full day to track down.