Posts Tagged 211

Pub Media Offers a Voice to the Community Organizations

Posted by Rob Paterson in Branding, Context, My Source on September 15th, 2009

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One of the surprises that many stations had when we begun this work was that most of the community organizations that were able to help people, had no access to the public themselves. They had no money and no pathway. The public was meanwhile being bombared with message by people who had money – the very people who had got them into trouble and who now had a business pretending to help.

So here is a poignant My Source story from one of WOSU’s community partners:

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Is it working? It is in Connecticut!

Posted by Rob Paterson in Impact on August 17th, 2009

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Stations were asked to tell us how things are going – here is Nancy Bauer at CPTV:

Great news – we just rec’d our first report from UW 211 on the calls – they saw a 272% increase in calls related to the mortgage crisis since the town meeting and vignettes starting airing on TV and radio. In the three months prior to our efforts – the United Way reported 7,490 total call related to mortgage questions – after our on-air campaign began – they report 7,166 call in just three weeks – WOW!!!!!

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Partnering with 2-1-1

Posted by Lauren Schwarze in Context, Network, Partners, The Collective Story on June 22nd, 2009

One of our partners in this initiative is United Way and their 2-1-1 Referral Service—their partnership has been invaluable during Facing the Mortgage Crisis, because 2-1-1 is able to directly connect people to trusted resources. What’s interesting is that coverage varies in the country—some communities have just one call center, some have none, and others have several.

Through their work on Facing the Mortgage Crisis, stations have already seen their impact, not only on their communities, but on organizations that provide resources—from working with and uniting multiple 2-1-1 call centers, to connecting a new demographic to 2-1-1’s resources, the work of public media can be seen.

WVIZ/ideastream in Cleveland has created a strong partnership with their local 2-1-1 service—their United Way office noted a significant jump in calls once ideastream’s initiative began. They also noticed a new group of people calling into 2-1-1, suggesting that ideastream’s work had cast a web of resources further into Cleveland and its surrounding areas.

For this initiative, KERA in Dallas is working with its 13 local call centers. To help coordinate activities and logistics, KERA set up weekly conference calls with the centers. KERA’s coordination efforts have made working with several call centers possible, so 2-1-1 in the Dallas area can connect as many people as possible to the resources they need.

So what’s the moral of the story?  The resources are out there–fantastic organizations like United Way help connect people to trusted resources in the community.  But sometimes a connector, a convener,  is needed in order to get the word out to as many people as possible–in this case, for this initiative, public media is helping connect more people to organizations like United Way.

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Engagement – Making the Connection – 211 and Phone

Posted by Rob Paterson in Context, Engagement, Partners on June 18th, 2009

Ghosts in your house – “Who are you going to call – Ghost Busters!”

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Worried about losing your house? – Who are you going to call – 211?

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Research is clear. If you want to offer help and have your offer taken up, you need to make the next act of the helpee easy.

In most of the 32 markets that Public TV and Radio are working in to help you get help with your fears and issues with your mortgage, we are using United Way’s 211 service. It’s easy. A one easy to remember number that takes you to a trusted organization run by the United Way that can then direct your call to the best source of help for you.

Here is how CPTV in Connecticut are describing this and how they are using their media to help you find out how to use this help.

United Way 2-1-1 is an integrated system of help via the telephone – a single source for information about community services, referrals to human services, and crisis intervention.  United Way 2-1-1  is accessed toll-free from anywhere in Connecticut by simply dialing 2-1-1. It operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Multilingual call specialists and TDD access is available.
Connecticut residents call 2-1-1 for many different types of help. Professional call specialists help callers with such complex issues as substance abuse, gambling, domestic violence programs, suicide prevention, financial problems, mortgage foreclosure assistance and much more. Other callers may simply be looking for volunteer opportunities. By dialing 2-1-1, a caller is connected with a 2-1-1 call specialist who helps the caller assess their situation and find the community services in their area that can assist them.   Resources may also be accessed via the internet at www.211ct.org.
Visit the United Way 2-1-1 Foreclosure Assistance web page here.

Many of the stations in the 76 station project are finding that 211 is a wonderful partner. It makes no sense for the station to set up a phone bank. With 211, we have existing capable infrastructure in place that knows where all the best help is to be found.

 

Easy is best in all things. 211 makes connecting to help really easy.

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