Published October 2004

Work under way to create
2-1-1 calling system for social services

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Whether it is worker retraining, rental assistance or drug counseling, health and human service agencies across Washington are there to answer the call of people in need. For many of those people, however, knowing where to turn is a challenge all its own.

A statewide initiative hopes to change that, making the call for assistance as easy as 2-1-1, a dial code now used in 21 states to connect community members with the social services they need.

“We see 2-1-1 as being an essential service to all. ... It’s the ‘front door’ to social services in our community,” said Dennis Smith, a vice president with the United Way of Snohomish County and a board member for Washington Information Network 2-1-1, the nonprofit group leading the effort to create a statewide information and referral system.

The concept of using the three-digit number to access information and referral services originated in Atlanta, Ga., where, in 1997, the local United Way chapter began using 2-1-1 for just that purpose. Three years later, the Federal Communications Commission reserved the 2-1-1 dialing code for community information and referral services, and today it is being used in more than 80 call centers, reaching more than 66 million Americans.

In Washington state, the drive to implement a 2-1-1 network began six years ago with informal discussions among local United Way chapters, other nonprofit organizations and state agencies, eventually leading to the formation of WIN 2-1-1 in 2001.

Since then, the group, headed by Executive Director Tom Page, has prepared an eight-phase rollout plan that calls for the creation of a network of seven to nine call centers across the state as well as a statewide, “real time” database of services by the end of 2006.

The first three phases already have been completed and include, among other objectives:

• Development of a statewide business plan.
• Passage of state legislation that supports creation of a 2-1-1 system and gives WIN 2-1-1 specific leadership responsibilities in the system’s creation.
• Obtaining initial funding.
• Designating King and Clark counties as demonstration sites, with business plans for each of those sites completed.

The remaining five phases call for preparing a technology plan, including telephone integration and database software implementation; supporting the business plan development of other call-center sites; rolling out a marketing plan; initiating a cost-benefit baseline study; and developing online public access to the WIN 2-1-1 informational database, Page said.

“We’ve been able to hit every benchmark so far — the business planning process has grounded us and guided us,” he said.

Locally, business planning is well under way for an Everett-based North Sound 2-1-1 call center that will serve Snohomish, Skagit, Island, Whatcom and San Juan counties — an area with more than 1 million residents, Smith said.

Plans call for the center to be operated by the Volunteers of America Western Washington, which already runs a community information line for Snohomish and Skagit counties as well as Camano Island, he added.

When integrated into the WIN 2-1-1 network, the North Sound center will operate during regular business hours. After hours, there will be a seamless connection to the Crisis Clinic in Seattle, one of three Northwest 2-1-1 call centers expected to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Smith said.

All that planning and operation takes money, however, and under the WIN 2-1-1 business plan, an initial investment of $3.9 million, spread over five years, is called for to implement the system. Once up and running, the system’s annual operating cost will be about $8 million, Page said.

Funding thus far has come from the United Way of America, the United Ways of Washington and local United Way chapters; the state Department of Social and Health Services’ Aging and Disabilities Services Administration; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Microsoft; the Verizon Foundation; and the Boeing Employees Community Fund.

The BECF donation includes not only a pledge of thousands of dollars in direct donations but also a promise to match additional contributions up to $211,000 through the end of the year.

“We are working to secure state funding. We came close this year, but it was a really tough year for the budget,” Page said, adding that the state Legislature in March passed a joint memorial calling on Congress to pass the “Calling for 2-1-1 Act.”

The legislation, introduced in September 2003, would secure $200 million to support national development and implementation of 2-1-1, and, if fully funded, would provide between $3.5 million and $4 million annually for 2-1-1 in Washington state, he said.

At both the state and national levels, 2-1-1 has garnered bipartisan support, not only for its ability to efficiently refer individuals in need but also for its ability to pinpoint the needs of a community, Page said.

“Legislators and the legislative assistants see this as a tremendous benefit because all of these requests for assistance come through one point,” Page said. “The WIN 2-1-1 system will offer a ‘snapshot of the community’ in terms of the needs of each community. ... Policymakers can then do a better job of allocating funds.”

In Connecticut, for example, the statewide 2-1-1 system aided lawmakers in allocating funds for the placement of substance-abuse centers because they were able to pinpoint where calls for those services were coming from, Page said.

The 2-1-1 system also has another benefit: connecting would-be volunteers with organizations in need.

Once the 2-1-1 system is set up locally, prospective volunteers who call the North Sound center will be “patched over” to the United Way of Snohomish County’s volunteer center, Smith said.

“In Atlanta, 10 percent of (2-1-1) calls are from people who want to give back — that amounts to 35,000 calls a year,” Page noted. “It’s a wonderful way to build a strong community.”

For more information on WIN 2-1-1, go online to www.win211.org.

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