CONNECT211.org is an information and referral service ... a bridge between people who need services and the agencies furnishing those services. CONNECT211.org has information on health and human service agencies in southeast Pennsylvania and can retrieve the information quickly and accurately. CONNECT211.org is building a comprehensive database for the five counties in the Philadelphia region – Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia.

Increasing Social Service Effectiveness: Reducing case-worker backlog, overlaps, confusion, & gaps

In the Greater Philadelphia region, there is a maze of federal, state, & local government social service programs such as Medicare, county assistance, Social Security & disability programs, job training, drug counseling, and many more. Human services are also offered by faith-based providers, nonprofit organizations, and other programs. Citizens in need of these services in their daily lives are often overwhelmed with the process of identifying them, and have little idea of where to go to get help.

In order to avoid social service caseworkers duplicating each other’s efforts or overlooking important resources their clients require, this web-based concept was devised. Often, a citizen may be unaware of assistance available nearby, but with some simple ‘locational’ information, they could manage their own needs much more independently. The CONNECT211.org provides basic mapping tools to perform these tasks. 

Social Service Taxonomies: Logical ways to display available services

The CONNECT211.org website displays a logical, visually-coherent arrangement of our region’s social services. It displays not only maps, but informational graphics and text can enable citizens to determine what programs they are enrolled in, and how to manage those claims on their own. Regardless of their computer skills, users can easily navigate through a comprehensive, helpful structure that guides them to the services they need.

Types of Data: Decision Support Tools for Citizens

CONNECT211.org is unique in that it culls nearly 10,000 service providers from across diverse regional sectors: religious organizations, local government, and non-profit agencies alike. For example, typical map ‘layers’ could be: school districts; job training centers; county assistance office locations; locations for emergency food supports; as well as the location of early care & education programs via regional transit. CONNECT211.org maps would portray the relationship between all these entities.

Participating Agencies: What kinds of relationships are built with CONNECT 2-1-1?

CONNECT211.org creates a shared resource for citizens-in-need, as well as the agencies that serve them. Agencies providing either datasets or funding to Connect 2-1-1 immediately benefit from a tool to help its client-base receive crucial information (often a priority to any agency mission). DVAEYC and the six United Ways serving southeast Pennsylvania are partnering with Pennsylvania’s 2-1-1 system in a regional collaborative web launch of CONNECT211.org, a new FREE geographically-enabled interactive social services online directory. CONNECT211.org is hosted by The Cartographic Modeling Lab at University of Pennsylvania.

CONNECT211.org puts consumers and caseworkers in a better position to evaluate and choose resources appropriate to family needs. CONNECT211.org does not endorse, rate, recommend or evaluate resources, programs, or providers and therefore, CONNECT211.org does not assume, warrant, or guarantee the quality of programs listed on the web site.