211—to find local human services

You or a family you know needs help—job training, emergency food, counseling, low-cost immunization, child care, senior services, a substance abuse program, whatever—but you don’t know where to find it.

Now in 19 California counties, as well as many other parts of the US, you can just call 211. This free hotline, staffed by bilingual professionals and available 24/7, links callers to local health and human services, as well as providing information during emergencies.

211 will be available to all Californians by 2010, if the United Way and the California Alliance of Information & Referral Services meet their goal. Funds come from counties, First 5, United Way, and private foundations—but 211 is expected to save money in the long run, by helping people connect to services and by cutting down on the use of toll-free numbers.

How can you help bring 211 to your county? “Residents can contact their local information and referral provider or United Way, as well as city and county leaders,” says Elizabeth Sadlon, project manager for 211 California. “In many communities, (lack of) local funding has been a barrier. The more that decision-makers hear about the service, the more likely they are to support it.” To find out whether your county is covered—or to help make that happen—see www.211.org.

Programs for caregivers for family, friends, or neighbors

Are you taking care of a child for a relative, neighbor, or friend? “Informal caregivers” don’t have to be licensed if they take care of children from just one family besides their own. But many still want information and support in their important role of helping to raise a child.

“Unfortunately, there’s not a lot out there for exempt providers,” says Arlyce Currie, program director at Bananas. But Bananas, like all California child care resource and referral agencies, provides programs to support “family, friend, and neighbor” caregivers. Local services vary, but may include things like:

• play groups for the children
• classes, workshops, or support groups for caregivers
• printed information on caregiving or local resources
• toy or book lending programs

“At Bananas, we hold a quarterly support group for providers who are taking care of the children of friends, families, and neighbors,” says Currie. “People come to talk about the issues they’re having, like how to approach things with families and how to find work. Each session also has a main topic—at last week’s meeting we had a presentation on sudden infant death syndrome.

“Every other month we also host a playtime where we show (caregivers) simple activities they can do with the children and teach them how children learn.” Bananas child care classes are open to exempt caregivers and are given in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Amharic.

Bananas also organizes field trips every other month for informal providers. “Once we took the providers and children to the farmers’ market,” says Currie. “We gave them money to buy food at the market and then we talked about the things they bought.”

For information on your local programs, call your child care resource and referral agency—contact information at 800-543-7793.