Helpline to end service

A free telephone service connecting area residents in need with agencies that may help them is being shuttered for lack of money.

The 2-1-1 Helpline service will end its operations Monday, according to Kimberly Aaron, president of the United Way of Northwest Arkansas. The service gave people a way to connect to agencies such as food banks, shelters and rent and utility assistance; health insurance programs; crisis intervention services; support groups; drug and alcohol counseling; employment support; and support services for children and the elderly.

Aaron said the United Way, which provides money to 38 programs for families and children in poverty, has had a consistent decline in money raised in its Workplace Campaign.

The fundraising effort shrank to about $1.8 million in 2017 from a peak of about $4.6 million in 2008 and 2009.

Aaron said the results of the 2018 campaign are still being tabulated, but appear to be about 10 percent below the 2017 mark.

“You just can’t do the things when you have $1.8 million coming in that you could do when you had

$4.6 million coming in,” she said.

Aaron said those who need the services provided by the helpline may be able to access a similar service by contacting the Center for Collaborative Care and use the online Hark program at www. harknwa.com.

Community liaisons will be available from 9 a.m. to noon Friday at the Fayetteville Public Library and from 8 a.m. to noon Friday at the Center for Nonprofits in Rogers.

Josh Hall, interim executive director for the Center for Collaborative Care, said the service is important and his organization will work to help people who have relied on the Helpline to transition to the Hark service.

“It’s incredibly important for Northwest Arkansas or for any community — people having access to the services they need,” Hall said. “It’s a highly utilized service and a huge need.”

Aaron said the organization is working to reach individual donors and to increase revenue from grants and other sources and hopes the workplace campaign revenue will stabilize.

But, she said, the drop in available money meant the organization had to make decisions on what programs to continue and what programs to cut.

The group conducted several focus groups to review the range of programs and gauge support, she said.

“The 2-1-1 Helpline consistently landed at the bottom of the list,” she said.

United Way decided to end the service when no other source of funding could be found.

Aaron said the Helpline cost between $110,000 and $120,000 annually. The organization had about 6,700 callers in the 2017-18 fiscal year, she said.

She said the volume of calls had been growing in recent months after the organization switched to a different call center that operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week instead of being open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Aaron said the closing of the Helpline means Arkansas will be the only state without such a program.

The state program operated from a call center in Pine Bluff from 2007 to 2009 before being closed because of a lack of funding, according to news reports.

Debi Meeds, president and CEO of the United Way of the Ozarks in Springfield, Mo., said the service in Missouri is run from the United Way organization based in St. Louis, but supported by United Way organizations from across the state.

Meeds said the Springfield-based office serves a population base similar to that of Northwest Arkansas and the Helpline service averages from 5,500 to 6,500 calls annually.

“It’s a vital service in our area,” Meeds said. “It would be tough to lose it.”