Butler County residents will no longer have to worry about finding resource centers as United Way plans to create a 24/7 phone service, which will allow access to an informational referral line.
By dialing 211, the phone service will connect anyone to various human services.
"A person can call the number and say ‘My elderly mom is new to town and needs someone to help her during the day with meals,'" Maureen Noe, president of Butler County United Way, said. "211 would then find resources that provide in-home care for elderly people and transfer the caller over."
The group got the idea to create the call service in 2003. Before that time, Butler County United Way operated referral systems.
Another organization called the Community Crisis Hotline Center also provided a phone service to the people of Butler County. In 2003, the call center gained federal funding which allowed United Way to adopt the phone service.
Though United Way began working on the new phone service, 211 was not able to run the way they wanted. When people call 211 now, they are directed to a recording. The pre-recorded message redirects the patrons toward three other numbers: Cincinnati United Way, Butler County United Way and the Oxford Crisis Center.
In an attempt to offer people 24-hour access, United Way provides a Web site (http://www.connectyou.org) which has similar features.
"The site is good because it is another form of access," Noe said. "People don't have to call and it is more private."
However, Noe said United Way feels a 24-hour phone service would be more beneficial overall. In order to get 211 back to some of its old habits, United Way has decided to pull together resources and make 211 a tri-county-run organization, which will involve Butler, Warren and Clinton counties.
"We want to raise money to provide this 24-hour care," Noe said. "It is all in the planning stages right now. It will hopefully be worked out in the next few months. We just received a grant from Ohio United Way towards the marketing plan. Therefore, we expect to launch our marketing campaign this summer."
The three county's United Ways are not merging together, but the three separate organizations are pooling resources toward creating the call center.
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"The tri-county idea is very beneficial because it allows us to pull our money together which makes it very cost effective," Noe said. "It also works because it doesn't matter where the person is who answers the phone, as long as it is being answered. This process cuts down on service duplication."
Noe said the call center provides a great opportunity for the counties to work together. It allows call volume to be increased which means the call center will be helping more people overall.
The Community Crisis Hotline Center used to receive about 500 calls a week. The 211 call center is currently receiving about 350 calls a week. Due to the new funds United Way received from the state for marketing, 211 plans to reach numbers that far exceed 500.
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