By Hailey Andersen
The mission at 2-1-1 Texas, a free service for the Brazos Valley community, is to connect people to services they need. People frequently browse the internet for answers, but 2-1-1 Texas offers straightforward, quick, and reliable assistance for families seeking food, childcare, transportation, and more.
“Oftentimes when people find themselves [needing] assistance with rent or utilities, it’s the first time that’s happened to them and they don’t know where to look,” says United Way Communications Manager Kat Gammon. “So you call 2-1-1, we will listen to your situation and help you find the appropriate referrals for you. It’s like a one-stop shop to find what you need.”
2-1-1 Texas partners with agencies, which allows them to offer their callers a wide variety of services. Rather than focusing on just the major need for which a family calls, 2-1-1 Texas digs deeper to find the root of the problem and truly fix it, according to Resource and Project Coordinator Mickal Lewis. “We call that assessing the call,” says Lewis.
2-1-1 Texas is a free service available 24 hours a day and seven days a week for anyone who needs help and doesn’t know where else to turn. Although 2-1-1 Texas is not able to financially help their clients, 2-1-1 Texas can point callers in the right direction and get them connected to agencies that are able to provide them with the services they need.
“We are looking to simplify the process for callers to help them find the resources that are going to help them meet their actual needs, and that is really why we have 2-1-1 — to make sure people know we are there to help them and simplify the process,” says Vice President of Community Impact Peggi Goss. “It’s available at any time.”
There has been a steady decline in callers over the past couple of years, according to Goss. On Feb. 11, 2-1-1 Texas hopes to remind the Brazos Valley community that the call center is available to help people with their needs.
“February 11th is basically an awareness day for 2-1-1,” says Gammon. “It’s a time that we remind the community that we are here, and we are a resource 24/7, and we can address their issues in 90 different languages. We are here to remind them to call instead of going online to look for those things.”
2-1-1 Texas is a program through United Way of the Brazos Valley in partnership with the State of Texas Health and Human Service Commission. For more information, visit www.211Texas.org.
