Chicago Sun-Times

New 211 line unveiled to help residents find social services

- BY STEFANO ESPOSITO, STAFF REPORTER sesposito@suntimes.com | @slesposito

At the start of the pandemic, a mother needed help. So she was given a flyer with 65 phone numbers for various Chicago-area social services.

“As you can imagine, that mother was overwhelme­d,” said Sean Garrett, president and CEO of United Way of Metro Chicago, who was telling the woman’s story Friday.

To help solve problems like the mother’s, the city — in partnershi­p with United Way, Cook County government and several philanthro­pic organizati­ons — on Friday unveiled a new 211 service; it’s free and is being billed as a one-stop shop for people seeking social service help.

Calling 211 will now allow residents in the city and the county to reach a live “resource navigator” 24 hours a day, seven days a week, officials said. Residents may also reach a navigator by texting their ZIP code to 898211.

“If they are looking for food, they can get connected to the right pantry. But we can also ask them, do you need help with your utilities, do you need help with your rent?” Garrett said.

Residents will also be able to do their own social service agency search by going to

211MetroCh­icago.org.

The system will have a total of 32 navigators with about half working the day shift and the other half split between two later shifts, officials said.

“One of the things we learned very clearly during the pandemic is that food insecurity and hunger and all other social issues that come from that … is a real issue here in our city,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said. “What we heard resounding­ly in many of those communitie­s is: ‘hold up, we need food. We need other social supports before we can talk about any of these other issues.”’

The help line, which is being operated by United Way, will also track call data to better understand community needs, Garrett said.

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