211 Brings Quick Access to Community Services

United Way of Marion CountyThe following column was submitted by Pam Stone, United Way of Marion County Director
United Way of Marion County recently launched the Marion County edition of 2-1-1 information and referral, bringing Marion up to par with most of the nation.

The Board and I are excited to bring 2-1-1 to Marion County. We have been blessed with quality social, human and community services for our residents. However, information overload has made finding the right service for various situations difficult. Now we only have to remember three easy numbers.

For those of you who don’t know about 2-1-1, think about 9-1-1.  When you dial 9-1-1 in any community, you are immediately connected with the safety services for that area.  Likewise, when you dial 2-1-1, you are immediately connected with information on and referral to all of the social, human, public and government services for that area.

For example, 2-1-1 provides 24/7 live access to the following types of service organizations:

• Basic human needs:  food banks, shelters, rent assistance, utility assistance;

• Physical and mental health resources: health insurance programs, Medicaid and Medicare, maternal health, Children’s Health Insurance Program, medical information phone lines, crisis intervention services, support groups, counseling, drug and alcohol intervention and rehabilitation;

• Employment support:  financial assistance, job training, transportation assistance, educational programs;

• Support for older adults and people with disabilities:  adult day care, Mobile Meals, respite care, home health care, independent living programs;

• Support for children, youth, and families:  childcare, after school programs, Head Start, family resource centers, summer camps and recreation programs, mentoring, tutoring, protective services;

• Information on access to government, disaster and other public services.

2-1-1 was first launched by United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta in 1997 and now reaches approximately 270 million people or 90% of the total U.S. population. It covers all 50 states, including 41 states with 90%+ coverage, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Nationally, United Way has played a lead role in the implementation of 2-1-1 services across the country.  This launch makes Marion the 62nd Ohio county to gain coverage through 2-1-1 service.

The service is being provided via a contract between United Way of Marion County and United Way of Greater Cleveland, where the calls will be answered. The call center will also be responsible for maintaining updated information on a year-round basis, which is a huge component of any information and referral source. Contracting with an existing high quality call center allows us to provide this service for a mere fraction of the cost it would take to build and staff a local call center.

A secondary but very important additional advantage is that the implementation of 2-1-1 should relieve some of the burden on our current 9-1-1 system.  Most dispatchers will tell you that a significant number of the calls they receive are not emergent in nature.  Now they will be able to tell those callers to hang up and dial 2-1-1 for non-critical information, leaving lines available for true emergencies.

So, if you’ve got a question, pick up the phone and dial 2-1-1!

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