This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: June 5, 2008 - Just short of its first birthday, Missouri's new 2-1-1 phone system, a referral service for non-emergency help, is within months of completing an ambitious plan to expand its reach into nine counties in Illinois. Once the program is up and running, it would make the Metro East region among the first in the state to become part of a 2-1-1 system, according to United Way 2-1-1 director Kay Archer.
In addition, Archer said, the 2-1-1 number likely will be available for the first time to most Missouri cell phone users by summer 2009. Currently, cell phone users must call a toll free number -- 1-800-427-4626 -- to be patched into the 2-1-1 call center.
The 2-1-1 phone system -- a hotline that refers callers to a wide range of organizations offering help with everything from utility assistance to drug counseling -- began operating on a test basis in July 2007. In its first 11 months, the 2-1-1 system handled nearly 73,000 calls from people seeking assistance. Archer said she expects that number to swell to about 200,000 calls a year by 2011.
Top reasons for 2-1-1 calls
United Way of Greater St. Louis Report
July 1, 2007 to June 4, 2008
- Electric bill
- Gas bill
- Rent assistance
- Phone number request
- Mortgage assistance
- Food pantry
- Transfer call to United Way staff
- Rent deposit
- Tax preparation assistance
- Holiday assistance
- Homeless shelter information
- Air conditioner information
- Inquiry about 2-1-1
- Furniture assistance
- Water bill
- Information services
- Employment search assistance
- Clothing
Other frequent calls involved such things as dental care, home repair, travelers aid, burial expenses, legal services, substance abuse treatment and family or marital counseling.
Calls from 99 Missouri counties and the city of St. Louis are directed to a third-floor call center inside the headquarters of the United Way of Greater St. Louis. Phone workers have access to a computerized listing of charitable agencies, church groups, government agencies and others able to provide assistance. They try to match a caller with an organization or organizations best able to provide help.
Ultimately, Archer said, groups that operate 2-1-1 systems around the country hope the number becomes as ingrained in the public conscience as the 9-1-1 phone number for emergencies.
There has long been a need for a "universal" phone number for callers seeking non-emergency assistance, she said.
"People move from community to community, and there needs to be one number that they can call for help no matter where they are," she said.
The program was begun by the United Way in Atlanta and, in 2000, the Federal Communications Commission set the three-digit number aside as a community referral number. The FCC gave states the authority to decide who would operate the 2-1-1 systems.
The Kansas City area was the first in Missouri to launch a 2-1-1 program. Soon after, the Missouri Foundation for Health approached the United Way of Greater St. Louis about setting up a 2-1-1 system not only for the St. Louis area, but also for the remaining part of the state that was not yet covered.
The foundation offered a funding grant of $1 million for capital expenses and then $750,000 a year for five years to help run the program. The United Way in St. Louis also made matching allocations of $750,000 a year for the five years.
The new Illinois counties coming into the system this fall are St. Clair, Clinton, Randolph, Monroe, Madison, Jersey, Green, Calhoun and Macoupin. Those counties will join the Rock Island and Bloomington areas as the first to become part of a 2-1-1 system in Illinois. Those areas also recently received approval from Illinois to set up a 2-1-1 system.
Until the 2-1-1 number goes into effect, residents of the Metro East counties involved are urged to call the United Way's 800 number.
Archer said that 2-1-1 workers have spent countless hours compiling lists of referral agencies and educating residents -- particularly in more rural areas -- about the benefits of using 2-1-1.
"This was a completely new concept for many people," she said.
In the year before the 2-1-1 service went into effect, she said, the St. Louis United Way office was receiving about 40,000 calls a year through its 800 help number. That number almost doubled for the first year the three-digit system was in place.
The estimate of 180,000 to 220,000 calls a year by 2011 represents a nearly threefold increase.
"If we're not getting those numbers, we haven't done a good enough job" of marketing, Archer said.
Archer noted that most calls to the 2-1-1 number are still coming from the immediate St. Louis area, but "we're starting to get a growing number from outside the region."
She said the program has 29 full and part-time staff, including several people around the state whose job it is to keep updating referral lists for those answering the phones in St. Louis.
Archer said the largest numbers of calls continue to come from poor residents who often are desperate for help with paying their mortgages, rent or food bills. She said it is often easier to get aid for certain groups - such as the disabled or senior citizens - than others.
Cheryl Polk, vice president and chief operating officer of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, said she anticipates that 2-1-1 calls will increase dramatically this summer as a result of layoffs and deteriorating economic conditions.
"There is a lot of downsizing in various companies, people are struggling fnancially due to the mortgage situation and high gas prices," she said. "We will be getting calls from people who have never called the United Way before."
She said that she anticipates that the 2-1-1 number will become as familiar to Missouri and Metro East residents as 9-1-1 in the next five years.
The call system operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and every day of the year. Usually, the wait time -- if there is any wait at all -- is no more than a minute.
The longest wait time, Archer said, came last summer when St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay announced the availability of free air conditioners during a particularly hot stretch of weather. Some callers were on hold for 10 minutes, she said.
Archer said the mayor's office has promised to warn United Way 2-1-1 officials before making similar announcements in the future.