By Melissa Dunson
mdunson@joplinglobe.com
With one phone call and only three numbers, 2-1-1, Missouri residents anywhere in the state will soon be able to get local information on emergency housing, legal aid, free food and day-care locations.
The statewide communication network is available through a national program now up and running in parts of Missouri, including Joplin. Cheryl Polk, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, spoke to the Joplin-area Nonprofit Alliance on Wednesday, and said the 2-1-1 system was operating as of July 1 and is currently undergoing testing in the Southwest Missouri region.
The 2-1-1 program is a telephone number that connects callers with trained operators who assess needs and refer them to one or more of Missouri’s 30,000 nonprofit groups for help. Operators are available on the toll-free line 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, with multilingual capabilities.
In May, the Missouri Public Service Commission ordered telephone companies in the Phase 1 areas of the state to comply with the 2-1-1 program, and the full public launch of the program should come later this fall, according to Kay Archer, director of United Way 2-1-1 Missouri, who also spoke to the Joplin group Wednesday.
The 2-1-1 program exists in portions of 42 states and part of Canada, but Mary Little, executive director of the United Way of Southwest Missouri in Joplin, said Missouri will be one of only 20 states that are completely 2-1-1 integrated.
Missouri’s participation in the 2-1-1 program is being funded by a $4.75 million grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health and a $3.75 million investment from the United Way of Greater St. Louis. The MFH money will fully fund 2-1-1 in Missouri for the first year and 50 percent of the operating costs for the next four years.
“What’s so great about this is we’re in the first phase and it’s not costing (the United Way of Southwest Missouri) one penny; it’s all paid for,” Little said.
The Kansas City area has been a part of the 2-1-1 program since March 2006, and Polk said it will continue to operate separately from the rest of Missouri’s program. The Kansas City program covers 16 counties in its service area.
The 2-1-1 program doesn’t provide any actual services, Polk said, it only directs callers to groups that can help, so the challenge for local agencies now is to collect, provide and update information on all their available programs to the statewide system. The 2-1-1 system will break Missouri into three regions. Southwest Missouri’s region comprises 27 counties, and its data hub will be located in Springfield.
“It’s very important we have information about your programs,” said Martha Love, 2-1-1 resource specialist for the Southwest Missouri data hub. “If you change, add or end a program, it’s important you give that information to us so we can have helpful, accurate information.”
New service
The 2-1-1 information service will only be available on land-line phones during the first phases, but eventually will also include cell phones.
Source: Kay Archer, director of United Way 2-1-1 Missouri
Local News
Related Photos
Related Links
Discussion
New 2-1-1 program to connect callers with charity services
- Local News
-
-
Couple 'scoop out' ice cream business from the past
When 3-year-old Brynlee Rabel tried coconut ice cream for the first time Tuesday, it was love at first taste. “She got the vanilla, but when she tasted my coconut ice cream she had to have it,” said Kayleigh Daugherty, a Joplin resident who wanted Brynlee to share the same experience she had as a little girl when she visited Anderson’s Ice Cream.
-
Missouri National Guard releases records involving soldiers who looted from Wal-Mart
The Missouri National Guard has released records confirming that four soldiers were disciplined for taking merchandise from the ruins of a Wal-Mart store in Joplin one day after the tornado that devastated the city a year ago.
-
Joplin school board awards contract to complete demolition of JHS
The Joplin Board of Education on Tuesday night accepted a bid for finishing tornado-related demolition at the high school.
-
Auditor cites, commission covers potential shortfall in Jasper County sheriff’s budget
The Jasper County Commission on Tuesday approved the transfer of $23,000 onto the Law Enforcement Sales Tax fund available to the sheriff’s office to cover a potential budget shortfall.
-
Joplin METS director requests space for additional ambulance
If all goes like METS Director Jason Smith hopes, this time next year the service will have two ambulances in Webb City, housed in their own station. At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Smith requested that the council allow the Joplin-based Metro Emergency Transport System to rent or lease space at the former public works building, 110 E. Church St.
-
Mike Pound: Food competitions combine to make culinary heaven
It’s such a great idea, you wonder why someone didn’t think of it before. In fact, it’s such a good idea that it’s possible it came about by accident.
-
Mo. court strikes down part of 2008 harassment law
The Missouri Supreme Court has struck down part of a state harassment law enacted after the suicide of a St. Charles County teenager who was teased over the Internet.
-
Cattle rustlers strike again in SW Mo. county
The plague of cattle rustling goes on in southwest Missouri’s Greene County.
Sheriff Jim Arnott says the latest episode occurred sometime Sunday in Walnut Grove. -
Bids sought for Cherokee County water treatment plant
After many delays, construction bids are being sought for a water treatement plant and water tank for the Spring River Public Wholesale Water District No. 19.
-
Dog helps some get through the court process
Sophie, a mutt of a dog with draping ears and dotted brows, is helping people in St. Louis County court tell stories of crime to judges, investigators and attorneys.
- More Local News Headlines
-
