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MISSOURI -- Starting today, thousands of Missourians will have access to a new service called 2-1-1. 2-1-1 is a telephone support network provided by the United Way. It's goal is to get you connected to information about a variety of community services.
We nailed down the facts about 2-1-1 for this KHQA Fact Finder Report.
First, getting the new phone system up and running will cost more than eight million dollars. All of the funds are coming from United Way of the Greater St. Louis area and the Missouri Foundation for Health grants...not from money you donate to local United Way chapters.
2-1-1 calls ring into the St. Louis United Way office. But the United Way of the Mark Twain area has given that office a complete listing of service agencies in Northeast Missouri.
If your telephone provider is Century Tel, AT&T or Charter, you can call 2-1-1 right now.. All other phone carriers in Missouri will be hooked up to the system next spring...
But don't worry..if you live in those areas, you can still get the information by calling 1-800-427-4626 or by logging onto www.211Missouri.com.
Here's just how this new phone number can help you.
The United Way has always been committed to hooking you up with services you need. But until now, it's had to give you a stack of information...
We asked, "How does this service work for people who might want to use it?"
"Well it's a wonderful time saver for people who frequently are in need of a service and are referred on and on and on and it takes several calls. This way they can call one simple number, 2-1-1, and they'll get a real human being 24/7, who's bi-lingual, and can determine by area code, zip code, what services that person can reach," said United Way Mark Twain area director Lou Lemen.
Trained referral operators can hook you up with information on a wide variety of services...Anything from shelters to food banks, support for seniors and the disabled, utility assistance programs, youth activities for your kids, and more...
We asked, "What's the overall goal of providing this kind of service?"
"Self sufficiency...for every family, for every individual in the state of Missouri. And that's a really big goal. But by linking people to needed services, we then can help make them more self-sufficient," said Lemen.
Now as you can tell, 2-1-1 is pretty close to 9-1-1... the number you call for emergency services. We wanted to know if that will be a problem for the new 2-1-1 line...So we called the new phone line, and got this message.
"Thank you for calling United Way 2-1-1 Missouri...connecting people to community services and volunteer opportunities. If this is an emergency situation, please hang up and call 9-1-1 for you local police, fire or ambulance service..."
Lou Lemen with the Mark Twain Area United Way told us that if a caller doesn't hear that message, or if an emergency should arise during a normal 2-1-1 call...2-1-1 operators have the ability to directly transfer calls to 9-1-1. emen also says that eventually having information from 2-1-1 should help reduce the number of non-emergency calls taken by 9-1-1 centers.
