Published November 2005

With 211, community help
just a phone call away

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

North Sound 211, a free, quick-dial community information service, will begin providing non-emergency referrals next Feb. 22, on Washington’s birthday.

It’s being launched as a partnership between the Volunteers of America of Western Washington and United Way of Snohomish County, both headquartered in Everett.

Just as 911 has become the nation’s established emergency number for police, fire and ambulance services, the new 211 is expected to gain rapid recognition and acceptance by people who simply need to know where to find the nearest food bank, how to get government program assistance, where to find a doctor or where to contribute time or donations to a variety of local charitable groups.

“The number 2-1-1 is easy to remember. It’s fast and it’s effective,” said Bill Brackin, VOA’s Community Information Line director and a pioneer in establishing Washington state’s segment of the national 211 program. “It simplifies the process of finding assistance and other community information.”

Brackin has been working on setting up the 211 system in Washington state since the mid-1990s when he noticed a national trend toward establishing the new system. As director of the VOA information center, he could see the benefit of extending that service into the 211 system. Now, VOA will manage, coordinate and operate the 211 center at its Broadway headquarters in downtown Everett, a hub that will link to satellite offices to provide services for a million residents in five counties, including Snohomish, Skagit, Whatcom, Island and San Juan.

Because the VOA’s trained staff is handling the 211 calls, using a giant database of community services and program referrals for myriad needs, people will find faster service than surfing the Internet or checking through local telephone directories, Brackin said.

The new service also will enable VOA to analyze community trends by studying call topics throughout the five counties. That will make it easier to anticipate growing needs in particular areas so that VOA and other social service agencies can respond to those needs, he said.

“People need to be able to rapidly access this kind of information,” said VOA President and CEO Tom Robinson, who once headed the VOA’s crisis line center during his 25-year career with the agency. “We’re working closely with communities to provide information for citizens with the new 211 service as well as our traditional ‘Where to Turn’ booklet of community services, which is now available on a compact disc.”

The 211 system also is expected to be essential in the event of a major natural disaster, such as an earthquake or volcano eruption in the state.

Earlier this year, recovery efforts from hurricane damage in the southern Gulf Coast states were helped immensely by the presence of an established 211 system in those states, Robinson said.

Already, VOA’s Community Information Line annually receives 19,000 calls from Snohomish and Skagit County residents. That call volume is expected to grow to 120,000 within five years of the 211 program launch.

Fourteen states have complete 211 coverage so far. The North Sound 211 system will join a national network that already serves about 137 million people, about 46 percent of the nation’s population. Altogether, 169 systems now cover all or parts of 32 states.

More information on the North Sound 211 program is available on the Internet at www.voaww.org.

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