| Written by Carol Loftur-Thun, Executive Director, CrisisLink, on February 08, 2008 |
On February 11, Virginia will celebrate two big successes--the two year anniversary of 2-1-1 in 5 of 6 regions of the state, and CrisisLink’s launch of 2-1-1 in Northern Virginia to complete the statewide 2-1-1 VIRGINIA system. 2-1-1 is the national 3-digit number designatd by the FCC for free Information and Referral about health and human services. 2-1-1 helps ordinary people navigate our increasingly complex social services system, and helps nonprofits by steering people to the right door the first time to help us run “leaner not meaner.”
Through the support of Governor Kaine, Secretary Tavenner, and Virginia's General Assembly legislators, the vision of nonprofit partners from around the state and the region--including the Nonprofit Roundtable and Northern Virginia Regional Commission--will be brought to life so all Virginians have some place to turn when they need help.
For our region, 2-1-1 is key to regional collaboration on human services and regional coordination during emergencies.
Making sure we can provide seamless 2-1-1 service across the region is key because people don’t live, work, love, and suffer in just one jurisdiction at a time. And emergencies don’t respect jurisdictional boundaries either. With 74% of Americans now served by 2-1-1, our region of all regions needs to have strong and seamless 2-1-1 service.
2-1-1 is for everyone--from the son seeking a day program for his aging parent to the mom seeking daycare for her toddler. But 2-1-1 is not only key for people like you and me every day, its also a critical part of the infrastructure we need to build to help health and human service nonprofits, faith-based programs, and government agencies be more efficient. 2-1-1 can save time for health and human service professionals seeking services for clients, and take the burden off stretched staffs trying to steer people who show up at their door find the right door. And 2-1-1 can provide a "social barometer" with data on met and unmet needs in our community, as well as an “early warning system” for health and human services as the front line in helping those seeking services.
But possibly 2-1-1's greatest contribution will be when the next disaster or emergency hits. Many of us in this region feel we live with a big bulls eye painted on our backs, just waiting for "the next big one" after 9/11, anthrax, and the sniper shootings, not to mention Katrina, the wildfires or even the recent tornadoes. CrisisLink's commitment to 2-1-1 stems not only from our commitment to people facing crises every day, but also our commitment to community when we all face a crisis.
2-1-1 can literally be a lifeline--like it was when 9-1-1 went down in New Orleans during Katrina and 2-1-1 took calls from people stranded on rooftops. 2-1-1 is a critical part of coping with crises and recovery like it was during the San Diego wildfires steering people away from road closures and towards shelters.
The next crisis may not be a plane falling from the sky--it could be a recession the likes of which we've not seen in quite a while. In the face of economic crisis, many people who've worked hard, owned their own home and paid taxes could slip below making ends meet and need to seek help for the first time in their lives. 2-1-1 will be even more critical for these "first timers" but if they get the help they need early on, we can hope they'll be "one timers."
Join CrisisLink and our other partners around the region to support 2-1-1. Help us spread the word about 2-1-1: you can put a link to 2-1-1 and CrisisLink on your website, and support efforts to strengthen and build 2-1-1 in the region into the strong system it needs to be for all of us--
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