211 Saskatchewan Report
United Way of Saskatoon Board of Directors
September, 2005
Respectfully submitted by: Ken Howland, Volunteer Chair
211 Saskatchewan
Introduction
211 is an easy-to-remember telephone number that connects people to the full range of non-emergency social, health and government services in their community. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, trained information and referral counsellors answer 211 calls, assess the needs of each caller and link them to the best available information and services. 211 is also available on the Internet, allowing users to find their own way to programs and services.
211 centres are now operating in Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary and shortly, will also be running in the Niagara region of Ontario and South Georgian Bay.
United Way of Saskatoon and 211 Saskatchewan
In 2003, United Way brought a broad cross-section of stakeholders together to introduce 211 to Saskatchewan and to gain support to explore the feasibility of such a service for Saskatchewan.
In the summer of 2003 in partnership with the United Way of Regina and the Community-University Institute for Social Research, we undertook a study to gain an understanding of the state of information and referral services in the province.
Also over this period, United Way of Saskatoon engaged in educating the community about 211 at various community meetings and government consultations.
In late 2004, United Way of Saskatoon successfully submitted a proposal to the federal government through the Homelessness Initiative to develop a business case for 211 in Saskatchewan.
In 2005, Deloitte was engaged to do the work building on their national pro-bono work done for the United Way of Canada. The team of Deloitte has now just completed a major cost-benefit analysis of 211 in Canada. Deloitte is also donating to our project approximately $90,000 in consulting work (Total cost of the project is $120,000). This work will be completed on October 7th, 2005.
United Way of Canada in partnership with Inform Canada (national association of information and referral professionals) are leading the national work and supporting local United Way initiatives across Canada. Sheri Benson, Director of Community Services has the staff lead on this work and as such participates on the National Implementation Committee of United Way. This committee is comprised of staff from United Ways who have or are planning to implement 211 in their communities or provinces.
Next Steps
Once Deloitte’s work is complete, we will have a detailed business plan and business model of 211 for Saskatchewan.
At a recent meeting, we heard from key stakeholders that 211 is a service that is needed and wanted in Saskatchewan. Just of note, wherever 211 is discussed, United Way is seen as the logical convener and driver of this initiative by community members.
The next steps of 211 Saskatchewan will include the establishment of a steering committee of community leaders to assist United Way in implementing the business plan developed for us by Deloitte.
To date we have invested approximately $40,000 in this initiative through our Community Initiatives Fund and our community building budget and a grant from the Federal government. We have also received in-kind corporate support from SaskTel and Deloitte. As well, we have allocated staff time to this work.
At this time, it felt appropriate to request the Board’s re-affirmation and continued endorsement of our leadership role in this province-wide community initiative. As the pace of the activity around 211 Saskatchewan increases, board reporting will be more frequent and critical decisions brought to the Board for approval.
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