On October 13, 2015 Carol Bowman/CEO of United Way presented this video before the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors.
Quick Facts:
Mountain Valley 211 Launch Reception
October 22, 2015
United Way
658 W Main St, Merced, CA 95340
11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.
October 21, 2015 - United Way of Merced County is announcing that the Mountain Valley 211 Program, a referral and information system that aims to connect people to services they may need, will be operational on October
22nd, 2015. By dialing the numbers ‘2-1-1’, callers will be able to access information specialists who can refer them to local programs for assistance.Residents in both Merced and Mariposa counties will also be able to connect to a wide array of human services programs including housing assistance, food pantries, job training, health care, tutoring, counseling and transportation through a searchable database located at http://mountainvalley211.org/.
Bob Bauer, Director of Program Development at United Way, said the program is a major undertaking. Building a database this large costs money and time, and until recently resources were not available to make this a possibility in Merced. Bauer explained that United Way is teaming up with Mariposa County, the Merced County Department of Public Health and Merced County’s Human Services Agency for the local introduction of this service.
211 Mountain Valley will support emergency response teams in disaster relief efforts. The program will be able to coordinate with the Office of Emergency Services in Merced and Mariposa counties to provide information regarding evacuations, road closures and shelters.
According to United Way, 96 percent of California residents are already covered by a 211 system. It is estimated that in 2013, 211 call centers received nearly 2 million calls across the state. About 50 percent of the calls in California request assistance for food, shelter, clothing and utilities.
The call center that will service Merced and Mariposa will be in Bakerfield, California, When the 211 service rolls out in the fall, United Way expects to have a database of about 1,000 programs and services available for callers. Bauer said he expects this number to double as the Mountain Valley program expands. Assistance through 211 will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and in 150 languages.
Octavio Valencia, 211 program coordinator at United Way of Merced County, and Gabriela Trujillo, data specialist, have attended conferences and trainings to learn how to implement the 211 service. They have learned that in the Central Valley, nearly half of all callers are Latino and about 70 percent are female. “Many are young women with children 5 years old or younger”, Valencia said. “These are people with specific needs.”
At the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors meeting on October 13, 2015 Chevon Kothari, Director of Human Services for Mariposa County introduced Carol Bowman/CEO of United Way who provided an overview of the Mountain Valley211 system.
The 211 system will connect people to services and programs that will improve their quality of life. The database will hold all the services that are available to the residents. The website will also have access to the database.
The database currently holds around 850 programs that are available to the residents but this is estimated to double in size eventually. In the database are phone numbers and locations for services such as domestic violence, substance abuse, emergency housing, etc. Programs that will be eventually added will be for numbers for volunteerism, veterans services, where a resident can get flu shots, where to sign up for little league, basically anything that is taking place in Mariposa County including events.
Back on January 13, 2015 the United Way of Merced County approached the Mariposa County Board of Supervisors to support the 211 System. The Supervisors voted to support the 211 System.
Information from the Supervisors packet:
Approve The Request of United Way Of Merced County Requesting That Mariposa County Support Their Effort To Become a 2-1-1 System Through The Completion Of An Endorsement Form; and Authorize the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors to Sign the Endorsement Form.
United Way of Merced County (UWMC) recently received funding through Merced County Human Services Agency to begin the establishment of a 2-1-1 referral system for the local area. A 2-1-1 system is a free phone number and online database that connects Californians quickly and effectively to existing health and human service programs, joblessness support and disaster response information in their communities. It is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and in 150 different languages. Currently, 92 percent of the State’s population in 29 counties have access to 2-1-1. Nationally, 2-1-1 covers more than 80 percent of the US population. 2-1-1 information and referral providers connect people of all income levels, language and cultural backgrounds to resources tailored to their needs and circumstances. Mariposa County has explored a 2-1-1 system in the past, but it has not been cost effective for our small community to develop this type of robust system.
After several conversations with the Human Services Department in Mariposa County, UWMC has offered to include Mariposa in their catchment area. As a part of this effort and as a first step, UWMC is applying to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to be designated as the 2-1-1 service provider for Merced and Mariposa counties. United Way of Merced County is providing information to the CPUC that it has the necessary organizational capacity to provide 2-1-1 service and that it is familiar with and adheres to the professional standards for information and referral. An essential element of its application is a demonstration of community support for its designation as the 2-1-1 service provider in its area of operation.
Once established the 2-1-1 system would replace Mariposa County's Network of Care - an information and referral database which has been in existence since 2009 in Mariposa County. Due to the partnership with Merced County, the newly established 2-1-1 system would come with a lower price and more comprehensive services than our current Network of Care provides. UWMC is currently requesting a small amount of financial support, however, this decision to support the effort financially will be deferred until a later board item after a full analysis has been completed. The estimated amount of financial support can be covered within the existing Human Services budget. UWMC is currently requesting only that Mariposa County support their effort to become a 2-1-1 system through the completion of an endorsement form, which is attached.
