South Simcoe will get new 211 service

The South Simcoe Community Information Centre, Community Connection Collingwood and United Way of Greater Simcoe County hosted a public reception for South Simcoe residents at the Gibson Centre for Community Arts and Culture in Alliston recently, to announce the expansion of 211 service.

Residents in South Simcoe now have unrestricted access to community, social, health or government services information, thanks to a partnership between CONTACT, Community Connection, United Way and the County of Simcoe. Now, anytime day or night, residents are just a three-digit telephone call away from the information they need. All they have to do is pick up a telephone and dial 211.

Community Connection is one of eight call centres established to deliver 211 services for all of Ontario. The organization, located in Collingwood, will eventually serve the Central East region, a population of approximately 1.3 million people. South Simcoe is the second area of expansion since the call centre launched its pilot phase in November 2005. Services to North Simcoe were launched one month ago thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

The service is multilingual and answered live, by trained information and referral specialists. Corresponding websites offer self-help access to the extensive database maintained by a number of local information and referral service partners across the province, and the information is available at www.211ontario.ca. In the county, these partners are Community Link North Simcoe, Information Barrie, Information Orillia and CONTACT in Alliston.

Other call centres are located in Toronto, St. Catharines, Oakville, Brampton, Windsor, Ottawa, and Thunder Bay. By May of 2008, the eight sites will offer 211 services to six million people, or 50 per cent of Ontario residents. The initiative will expand to all of Ontario over the next four years.

"Often the citizens who find themselves facing the greatest challenges have difficulty knowing how to access the help that is provided in their community," said warden Tony Guergis. "This can help put people on the right path to those services and the county, along with our partners at United Way, Community Connection and CONTACT, is pleased to support this exciting new initiative."