Alberta 211
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association again urge the Province of Alberta to again consider a provincial funding source that would provide for 211 services to all Albertans.
WHEREAS in 2010 AUMA adopted the following resolution as submitted by The City of Red Deer:
WHEREAS 211 is an easy to remember three-digit telephone number that connects callers to a full range of social, health, community and government services;
WHEREAS 211 is an information service available to many Albertans and a provincial strategy exists to extend the service to all Albertans;
WHEREAS the strategy to extend services to all Albertans has been built on the engagement of communities and local volunteer centres; and
WHEREAS a provincial 211 service is expected to cost approximately $3M to start-up and ongoing costs of approximately $3.8M annually.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association urge the Province of Alberta to consider a provincial funding source that would provide for 211 services to all Albertans, including, but not limited to advocacy with the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to permit telephone service fees for 211 in a manner similar to 911; and
WHEREAS in 2011 the Minister of Municipal Affairs provided the following response: 211 Alberta currently covers approximately 70 per cent of the citizens of Alberta and supports recommendation 17 of Alberta’s Crime Reduction and Safe Communities Task Force report; establish a family source within the provincial government to provide a central source for information, resources and community connections. While there are merits to expanding 211 Alberta to the rest of the province, there are significant costs as well. As a result, the Government of Alberta is looking further into this issue with a review to identifying opportunities to:
• Increase efficiencies and reduce duplication of effort;
• Eliminate unnecessary wait times;
• Manage the escalation of issues to crisis by providing the right supports at the right time;
• Increase collaboration and cost-sharing; and
• Slow cost increases and reduce costs;
WHEREAS since 2011 there has been no movement provincially on expanding 211; and
WHEREAS Alberta 211 will provide a one-stop shop, single point of entry for all citizens in the province once the provincial network has been established but currently only select areas of the province can access this service.
What is 211?
211 is an easy to remember three-digit telephone number that connects callers to a full range of social, health, community and government services. It is free, confidential, multilingual and available 24 hours a day.
The 211 Alberta Initiative
The 211 Alberta Initiative was established through a partnership between United Way of Calgary and Area, United Way of the Alberta Capital Region, The Support Network in Edmonton and the Distress Centre Calgary. Additional partners have come on board representing Information and Referral (I&R) services from across the province as well as contacts from FCSS and Health Link.
In Alberta, the 211 service is currently being delivered to residents of Calgary, Cochrane, Edmonton, Parkland County, Leduc and Strathcona County. The Calgary service is provided by the Distress Centre Calgary, and in Edmonton the service is provided by The Support Network. The goal for 211 Alberta is to link these two 211 centres and extend the service to all communities and all citizens of Alberta. Establishing 211 dialing across the province and utilizing a single, comprehensive database of human services information that can be utilized by 211 I&R Specialists to make referrals will provide significant benefits to Albertans and the province. This would be done by:
- developing partnerships with local I&R agencies and/or other community service providers to maintain information on community and social services available in their communities, thereby extending the existing InformAlberta human services database to include data for all communities in the province;
- understanding and assessing the specific requirements of information and referral services for the rural Alberta communities and where necessary, identifying local I&R agencies to partner with 211 Alberta to deliver the service; and
- linking the 211 Calgary and 211 Edmonton centres and creating a single virtual call centre able to answer calls for the entire province 24 hours per day. The concept and benefits of 211 Alberta has received initial support from I&R agencies and other community service providers and stakeholders. Additional work in this area is required to further engage communities in the planning to ensure a comprehensive, community based service for all areas of the province.
References
Association of Information and Referral Services of Alberta (2009). 211 Alberta Overview. Retrieved June 21, 2010, from http://www.airsa.ca./default.html
The 211 service is one way Albertans access information on community, social, health and related human services. The Government of Alberta recognizes it as a valuable resource for Albertans to access services available in their communities. Human Services is committed to continuing to support 211 by working with community organizations to find ways to better connect Albertans with the resources and supports available in their communities.
AUMA will continue to monitor how the province is working with municipal and community partners to deliver services that keep our communities safe.
A 2017 resolution on this topic was passed by AUMA members.