SASKATOON – After years of working on an initiative to help people find the appropriate programs and services needed, 211 Saskatchewan officially launched on Monday thanks to the United Way of Saskatoon and Regina.
It used to be time-consuming and a challenge but 211 Saskatchewan has made finding necessary services and programs a whole lot easier. Connecting people is now just a click away.
“It might be someone looking for child care, it might be someone not knowing where they’re going to sleep that night, it might be someone who is caring for an older parent and looking for an alternative living space, all that can be found on 211,” said Sheri Benson, United Way of Saskatoon and area CEO.
211 officially launched in Canada in 2001. In Saskatchewan, it had to overcome funding and date collection challenges.
“There’s a lot of fingers in the pot, community groups, different levels of government, so we felt that unlike the corn fields of Iowa, you can’t just sort of build it and people will come, you need to reach out and help people navigate the system,” said Benson.
Over 2,000 organizations and over 5,000 programs and services are on the 211 Saskatchewan website. For people without access to the internet, connecting to the database and referral specialists over the phone is the next step.
“The cost of maintaining a web site is about $350,000 a year,” said Ken Howland, 211 Saskatchewan Steering Committee Volunteer Chair.
A mobile version of the 211 Saskatchewan website will be implemented later this fall.
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