The surprise October storm left many Buffalonians struggling to get help and find a timely, effective fix to their problems. For each problem you had there was a different number to call, and all of them seemed to be too busy to help unless the situation was an absolute emergency.
Imagine how much easier our lives would have been if there was one number – staffed to handle the influx of calls – that would help you find the answers to all your non-emergency problems. If all goes well, that number will be 2-1-1 and it will be fully operational by Fall 2007.
The United Way is pushing for state funding for a local 2-1-1 call center that can provide non-emergency help to citizens in our community. With the touch of a button it can put you in contact with the right people and get your essential services — from finding an after-school program to securing adequate care for a child or an aging parent.
“It will be an extraordinary resource that is long and coming,” said Arlene Kaukus, president of the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County. “At the end of the day, if we have services that can make a difference in peoples lives, but the people can’t find them and don’t know where to go to get the help they need, that’s an insufficient response. We need to make the connections – to easily link the helpers with the people who need the help.”
The resource requires $3.5 million in funding for the first three years of operation. A significant portion of that total has already been secured, but the hope of the program rests in the hands of state lawmakers when they reconvene on April 16. The regional United Way Board has committed $1 million to the program, and the State approved first-year funding of $800,000. In order for the program to take off (it is ready to go), second-year program funding must be embedded in the coming state budget. If it is, the Oishei Foundation will proceed with their $775,000 of funding over the first two years of the program.
Kaukus said she is hopeful their funding will be approved and Western New York will become the third call center operating in the State (the first two are in Westchester and Monroe County). The 2-1-1 number is currently serving 65 percent of the U.S. population; that’s roughly 196 million Americans who can call the non-emergency help center in their region.
The number has become a nationwide priority for United Ways, Kaukus said. The vision is to have 100 percent coverage of 2-1-1 in the United States and to integrate the systems so that in the event of a tragedy in one region, calls can be transferred to another call center for help.
“When you get 100 percent coverage of the country, there will never be a circumstance where people in an individual community will be without resources to find out where to get help,” Kaukus said.
If approved, the Western New York call center may be unique in the country since the office will be intentionally located with other first responders in the area through Central Referral Service. Kaukus said the integration recognizes the importance of a 2-1-1 number that can become a huge resource for 9-1-1 and other first responders.
“It is important for legislature to understand,” Kaukus said, “that while the United Way is leading the drive for 2-1-1, it’s an effort on behalf of people in our community, to benefit the people in our community.”
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