If you need to know where the closest food bank or homeless shelter is — either to get help or to give help as a donor or volunteer — it will be as easy as dialing 211.
Borrowing from the 911 system of making it easy to summon emergency services, the 211 system, which became available last week, is designed to make it just as quick and easy to find out what social service agency to call for a specific problem.
The 211 system was first launched in the metropolitan Atlanta area in 1997. It has since spread to 32 states.
Wireless services and Internet-based phone systems will be added later in the year, said Bill Brackin, program director.
Large businesses with PBX systems will need to get special hardware for the system to recognize a 211 call, he said.
Translation services for 40 languages will be available, said Deborah Squires, spokeswoman for United Way of Snohomish County, which has worked to help inaugurate the local service.
Everett will serve as the home base for North Sound 211, which will include Snohomish, Island, San Juan, Skagit and Whatcom counties.
The 211 service also will be launched Wednesday in Benton, Clark, Franklin, King, Kittitas, Walla Walla and Yakima counties, Brackin said.
The 211 system replaces the Community Information Line, run by Volunteers of America since 1988. While the name has changed, the staff will stay on to answer calls under the 211 system.
Last year, the Community Information Line fielded more than 19,000 questions from Snohomish County callers. The most common requests were for help paying rent and heating bills and for information on homeless shelters.
Tracking the types of help callers request can be like taking the pulse of the community, Brackin said. For example, 10 percent of all calls to the hotline in July were about homelessness.
Based on experiences in other parts of the country, the number of phone calls to the hotline will increase significantly, since the three-digit number is so easy to remember.
In its first year under the 211 system, the number of calls in Snohomish County is expected to increase to 35,000, Brackin said.
In the fall, 75,000 wallet-sized cards were distributed in Snohomish County to announce the 211 system.
Talks to bring 211 to Snohomish County date back seven years. “It’s snowballed into a huge movement to make this happen,” Brackin said.
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