Dial 211 for social service help
By Susan K. Livio
Star-Ledger Staff
People searching for help from a social service agency now have an alternative
to thumbing through the telephone book.
By dialing 2-1-1 callers will reach a live operator at a nonemergency hotline
any time of day who can link them to private and government agencies located
in their community, state officials announced yesterday.
"For a person who is hungry or someone without permanent shelter, help
is just three numbers away," Human Services Commissioner James Davy said
during a news conference in Trenton. "211 can give you the where-to-go
and how-to-apply for a variety of human service programs."
Patterned after the 911 emergency and 411 information lines, versions of the
211 information line serve 107 million people from 31 cities and states, but
many of those information services do not operate around the clock.
New Jersey is one of nine states to establish a 24-hour service, said Thomas
Toronto, who as president of Bergen County's United Way coordinated the project.
A bill (S211) is pending in the Congress, sponsored by U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton
(D-NY) and Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), to create an information line in all 50
states.
The hotline will help narrow the search for callers who need help finding an
agency that provides mental health, domestic violence and public assistance
for children, families, senior citizens and veterans in their area, officials
said.
"Too many people use 911, the emergency number we are all familiar with
for nonurgent questions. 211 will help take that burden away and offer local
and precise answers to these questions," Davy said.
The network has been operating in select counties since 2002, and before yesterday's
launch was already fielding roughly 10,000 calls a month from people in 15 counties,
Toronto said. Calls are routed to 10 regional call centers operated by United
Way-supported agencies. Cell phone users also can reach the hotline, although
service may be spotty while some glitches are being worked out this month, he
added.
The statewide network cost $2.2 million to launch, with the United Way providing
$1 million, state lawmakers spending $600,000, and grants from counties and
corporations such as Verizon covering the rest, Toronto said.
Assemblyman Louis Greenwald (D-Camden), chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee,
said he considered the hotline a sound investment that will ultimately save
the state money.
"In the long run, this will keep the senior home longer, which will save
the state money on nursing homes at four times the costs," Greenwald said
during the news conference. "This will keep the senior citizen fed and
out of the emergency room. This will keep the child healthy and off of drugs
and in a program, maybe like a boys and girls club or some other program where
they won't find themselves at greater expense to the state."
|
