HELP of Ojai, a cash-strapped nonprofit group known for its work with the elderly and troubled youths, announced Tuesday it has halted a planned expansion at a former county detention facility it took over in 2006.

The agency also laid off a top official in charge of the expansion who had been with the organization for six years.

"The community is aware that HELP has been through a difficult financial patch in recent months, and it is clear we must now focus on our core services until the economics are turned around," J.R. Jones, the group's president and CEO, said in a statement. "We believe the Baldwin Road project holds enormous promise, but we must now temporarily redirect the resources we've assigned there."

The group in 2006 signed a 35-year lease for the county-owned property where authorities operated the Ojai Honor Farm detention facility for women before closing it in 2003 to save money.

A public computer lab that opened last week at the west campus on Baldwin Road will stay open, as will a tenant-run organic farm, officials said. Also, a wellness center still will be built there and eventually offer seniors health screenings, nutrition services and fitness and yoga classes, said Lynda M. Pinizzotto, HELP's director of development.

But the plan to renovate other parts of the complex so additional nonprofit groups could lease office and program space there has been put on hold.

"We are going to rise from this. But this has been a difficult time," Pinizzotto said.

Lisa Meeker, director of the west campus, said she was shocked to be laid off Monday. Her dismissal came after two administrative employees were laid off in January to reduce costs, officials said.

"For me personally, it's an incredible disappointment, because we had not only finished the regulatory hurdles, but we were operationally working in the black," Meeker said.

Meeker said the Honor Farm site was generating more than $6,000 a month in income, plus almost $1,000 worth of donated services. Meeker said she and an office manager had previously taken pay cuts. The office manager later resigned, said Meeker, who received four days' severance pay after being employed for 6 1/2 years.

The west campus will now be run entirely by volunteers, officials said.

Kelly Randall, HELP's board chairman, said a long-range business plan will be developed for the facility, including a funding strategy. Meanwhile, he said, no further construction will be carried out until funding is secured.

"A key ingredient in the business plan and the future development of the Baldwin Road property will be community input," Randall said. "It's important that we learn what the citizens of the Ojai Valley think this facility should provide — and how they think it can be financed and carried through to completion."

— Staff writer Kathleen Wilson contributed to this report.