Nebraskans in all 93 counties can now dial these three simple digits to get the health and human service answers they seek. To mark the network’s completion, Governor Dave Heineman has declared September 13-19, 2010 "Nebraska 2-1-1 Awareness Week."

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People who need help often do not know where to begin. With thousands of nonprofit organizations in Nebraska, and hundreds of government offices, finding help can be confusing and intimidating.

For 65,000 people in the region last year, 2-1-1 was the answer. A call to 2-1-1 is free, confidential and can be made 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Tele-interpreter services can be accessed in 154 different languages.

Nebraska’s call center is located in Omaha, hosted by United Way of the Midlands, operated by a staff of trained and certified information and referral (I&R) specialists. It also serves the people of Pottawattamie County and seven others in Southwest Iowa.

At this time, 2-1-1 is available to more than 246 million Americans; that’s 82% of the entire population. Call centers cover all or part of 47 states, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.

Calls typically last three to five minutes. They are answered by a trained and certified "information and referral" specialist who:

• assesses the caller’s situation
• identifies appropriate community-based resources, such as food pantries, counseling services, senior day programs and more.
• provides advocacy for those needing extra support to access services.

2-1-1 offers its callers information on a wide variety of human needs: addiction treatment, shelter from abuse or homelessness, family counseling, medical needs, transportation difficulties and more. The most frequently reported needs are for assistance with housing/shelter, utilities and rent.

During busy periods, the call center’s system offers people several options to waiting; they can leave a message that will be returned as soon as possible, or they may program the phone system to automatically dial their numbers back when the specialist becomes free.

The 2-1-1 database is also available on-line at www.ne211.org, and at www.uwmidlands.org/211.

2-1-1 is also a portal for information in times of public health emergencies and disasters. Hundreds of people dialed the call center for times and locations of last year’s H1N1 vaccination clinics. During recent flooding along the Elkhorn River near Norfolk NE, citizens were encouraged to dial 2-1-1 to get vital information on relief services. In recent years, the call center acted as a hub for volunteers who wanted to help clean up after violent storms. Douglas County’s emergency management agency now asks the 2-1-1 center to collect post-storm damage reports from citizens; the county uses this information to compile applications for a federal disaster declaration. 2-1-1 has played a significant role in disseminating vital community information during and after wildfires, hurricanes, and most recently, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In answering non-emergency questions, the 2-1-1 center takes some of the strain off local 9-1-1 systems, preserving 9-1-1 operators’ time for life-and-death emergencies.

The United States’ prototype call center was launched by United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta in 1997. Two years later, a feasibility study conducted by the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center recommended a 2-1-1 pilot for the state, to improve people’s access to local services. The Federal Communications Commission, which oversees all three-digit dialing codes, authorized the phone code for "2-1-1" in 2000. Nebraska’s first 2-1-1 call was made in 2003, after the cooperative efforts of: Nebraska’s United Ways; Nebraska Dept. of Health and Human Services; the Nebraska Legislature and the Nebraska Public Service Commission, which presided over each county’s admission to the network.

Financial and staff support to build the state’s 2-1-1 network was a public-private partnership comprised of Nebraska’s United Ways, UNL’s Public Policy Center, some county health departments, foundations and grants. The State of Nebraska also has provided funding for the center. Some funding sources were short term.

Support for 2-1-1 will continue from the donors of United Way of the Midlands and United Way of Lincoln/Lancaster County. But ongoing operation of Nebraska’s 2-1-1 systems will require approximately $500,000 annually--which represents a cost of 30 cents per Nebraskan each year.

Bills that would ensure 2-1-1’s availability across the U.S. await a vote in the U.S. House and Senate. These Nebraska and Iowa legislators have signed on as co-sponsors: NE -- Rep. Lee Terry, Sen. Ben Nelson, Sen. Mike Johanns. IA -- Rep. David Loebsack, Rep. Leonard Boswell, Rep. Bruce Braley, Sen. Chuck Grassley and Sen. Tom Harkin.