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Friends of the Fourth
District:
In this month’s edition of my monthly community message, I wanted to
share with you a unique and easy way to access County and community
services: 211 LA County. This simple service can be accessed by
simply calling 211 on any landline telephone or cell phone within
the County. Although dialing it may be easy, the services and
information you receive after calling 211 is much more complex.
Callers to 211 begin by speaking with a live Community Resource
Advisor who helps them identify what the caller is looking for. Once
the caller's needs are determined, the Community Resource Advisor
searches through a comprehensive database to locate agencies,
programs, and services that can assist the caller in meeting their
needs.
The Community Resource Advisor attempts to locate resources for the
caller that are in the caller's community and are free, or low cost.
After explaining to the caller what each organization can assist
with, the Community Resource Advisor then provides the caller with a
variety of possible solutions along with addresses and phone
numbers.
In situations where callers are in a crisis situation or find they
are unable to resolve their problems without assistance, the
Community Resource Advisor will provide additional service for the
caller to ensure their success. This may include calling
organizations and advocating on the caller's behalf. It may also
include providing direct phone connection with the organization that
can assist the caller, or it may include contacting emergency or law
enforcement agencies, if needed, to ensure the caller's safety.
To give you some idea of the sheer size of the 211 system, callers
have access to over 28,000 health and human service programs
throughout the County. The system is available in over 140
languages, handles nearly 500,000 calls a year and is open 24 hours
a day, seven days a week, including holidays. Every day thousands of
people call 211 for services related to elderly support, health
care, children’s immunization information, legal referrals, food and
shelter assistance, support groups and many other needs.
About 2 in 10 County residents – around 2 million people - receive
some sort of public assistance from the County every month,
including cash assistance, child care, free or low-cost health
insurance, in-home care for seniors, etc. With 211, Los Angeles
County residents have an easy phone number to remember and access to
a vast variety of services provided by the County.
With thousands of human service agencies in the county and tens of
thousands of programs; providing access is not as simple as picking
up a telephone and answering a question. That’s why 211 is there to
help you the next time you need help from Los Angeles County.
DON KNABE
Supervisor, Fourth District
County of Los Angeles
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