Our featured Local Resource for this edition of Get to Know a Resource is Volunteers of America North Sound 2-1-1. Gabriela Frias, Information & Referral Outreach Coordinator and Americorps VISTA from Volunteers of America Northsound 211 took the time to fill out our questionnaire so you could get a chance to learn their story.
For those new to the community, give us a thirty second elevator speech about your organization.
Our organization is an information and referral service that serves the North Puget Sound area.
As you can tell from our website, we love data. Share with us three interesting data points that highlight your work.
- 95.77% of surveyed callers receive the resources they were looking for.
- We handled over 55,000 phone calls during our 2009 fiscal year.
- The number of calls has been steadily growing over the last three years in all of our service areas.
Though we love data, we still have heart. Tell us about an experience that has made your work worthwhile.
Romy called 2-1-1 in October. She was very upset, on the verge of tears and needing help with her utility bill. Her household includes two adults and two children. Her husband's loan officer income has declined sharply month by month for over two years. This month he did not receive a paycheck. They only have the basics but still cannot manage to pay their electric bill.
The 2-1-1 specialist assisted in calming Romy and explained that the CEAP (Consolidated Emergency Assistance Program) through DSHS, may be a program for which she'd be eligible. The eligibility requirements were throughly reviewed so that the caller understood them.
Community health issues cross a number of sectors and agencies. Tell us about your organization's role in the complex web of community health.
Our role is to diminish the amount of time staff at agencies spend trying to keep updated lists of resources and trying to advocate for people or find the right resource for an individual. We are also here as a gateway to the callers to find the resources available in the community that they might qualify for.
Give us your pitch! What are ways for a person to get involved with your organization?
Agencies are welcome to come to our database if they are seeking to offer their services to the community. We can screen callers according to agency and organization's eligibility requirements and help to get the word out about classes, programs, projects and assistance. We are also happy to help your clients find other resources so that you can concentrate on their specific circumstances.
Any final words for our readers?
We are trained individuals looking to provide the most up-to-date resources to meet individual needs. We are eager to help individuals locate the help they need and brainstorm with them to come up with solutions.
Now that you've learned a little about Volunteers of America North Sound 2-1-1 head on over to their
Local Resource Listing for information on how you can get involved.
If you would like to have your organization featured in a Get to Know a Resource article, fill out our short Questionnaire!
