2-1-1

Last updated

2-1-1 is a special abbreviated telephone number reserved in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) as an easy-to-remember three-digit code to reach information and referral services to health, human, and social service organizations.

Contents

Like the emergency telephone number 911, 2-1-1 is one of the eight N11 codes of the North American Numbering Plan (NANP).

History

United States

For many years, New York Telephone (now a unit of Verizon) used 2-1-1 as an automated credit request number for disconnected or misdialed calls. This service was in service from the 1970s through the early 2000s.

Before the introduction of direct long-distance dialing, the long-distance operator was reached by dialing 2-1-1 for placing a long-distance call. When the states in the US and provinces in Canada were assigned area codes in 1947 by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), direct distance dialing (DDD) using the area code and the local number was introduced starting in 1951, eventually eliminating the use of the prefix. After that, the local telephone providers designated "00" for long-distance operator access.

In 1986, the United Way of San Diego created its INFO LINE in partnership with the County and City of San Diego.[ citation needed ] The United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta introduced a 2-1-1 service in 1997. Many states began implementation plans soon after, aided by the United Way of America in partnership with the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems, or AIRS (renamed Inform USA in July 2023) [1]  –AIRS operates as a charitable organization, providing information and referral services for nonprofit and government sectors. [2] On July 20, 2000, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved 2-1-1 for nationwide use as a short number in the United States along with 5-1-1 for transportation. In Texas, particularly in the Coastal Bend area, 2-1-1 is also the number to call for elderly and disabled people needing evacuation assistance in the event of a pending disaster such as a hurricane. The role of libraries in information and referral including 2-1-1 has been considered with a case study in Mississippi, [3]

As of 2017, close to 95% of the population in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.) has access to 2-1-1 services.[ citation needed ] More than two-hundred agencies, including United Ways, provide 2-1-1 services. The largest population without access to 2-1-1 was the metro-Chicago area up until January 2023. [4] In 2017, the 2-1-1 network in the U.S. answered close to 15 million requests for assistance through phone, text, and web chat.

Canada

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved the use of 2-1-1 throughout Canada on August 9, 2001. The first Canadian 2-1-1 service opened in Toronto on June 13, 2002. 2-1-1 services are free of charge and multilingual in Canada.

As of October 2020, the whole of Canada, including the territories, has had access to 2–1-1 thanks to a nationwide expansion, following the COVID-19 pandemic.[ citation needed ]

In Canada, 2-1-1 offers free and confidential information and referral for all non emergency needs.

Operation

2-1-1 center hours vary. Many are open 24/7 to refer callers to organizations that provide services in such areas as:

Where available, 2-1-1 is operated by a private non-profit community-service organization, local government or local United Ways, which are part of the broader United Way Worldwide network. 2-1-1 provides information and referral to callers on where to obtain assistance from local and national social service programs, local and national governmental agencies and local and national non-profit organizations as well as where to volunteer or make a donation locally. Referrals are often given from databases accessed by call specialists. These databases are maintained by 2-1-1 staff following stringent data management guidelines. The databases are typically local but in some cases linked together to form statewide databases.

Many 2-1-1 centers are exploring Memorandums of Understanding with state and federal governments to facilitate the efficient handling of future disasters. Television or radio stations could easily tell citizens to call 2-1-1 in the event of an emergency. Call specialists at these centers would be informed of current disaster plans or places to receive help and could then inform the public of the correct course of action. After Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria in Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, and the Gulf Coast region, 2-1-1 centers were instrumental in coordinating with local government officials and providing information to communities before and after local disasters. Furthermore, 2-1-1 providers in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Florida were called upon to provide assistance to individuals fleeing Puerto Rico's devastation. [5]

Availability

United States

As of May 2017, the service is available in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and 95% of the U.S. population has access to 2-1-1 services by dialing 2-1-1 on a landline or cell phone. [6] In 2017, the 2-1-1 network answered close to 15 million requests for assistance by phone, text, and chat.

Canada

In Canada, 2-1-1 is available in the following places (starting dates in parentheses). This list may be out-of-date; 2-1-1 service coverage is generally expanding over time.

Nova Scotia – 211 Nova Scotia

New Brunswick – 211 New Brunswick

Quebec – 211 Grand Montréal and 211 Québec régions

Ontario – 211 Ontario

Saskatchewan – United Way 211

Alberta – 211 Alberta

British Columbia – bc211

The Windsor Star has reported on March 20, 2003, that Windsor, Ontario, intended to have a 2-1-1 service up by 2009, as the Provincial Government allocated $311,000 to start it up, with much of the money being donated by the United Way of Canada, but had a set time limit on how long those funds would be available. On November 26, 2007, the City of Windsor's website announced that 2-1-1 service for Windsor and Essex County began, and was being run by the United Way (who also runs the local 3-1-1 service).

Plans to introduce 2-1-1 services are also in development in other Canadian communities. [9] Ontario extended 2-1-1 province-wide in 2012 [10] and Nova Scotia's province-wide 2-1-1 deployment will be fully operational in 2014. [11] In British Columbia, 2-1-1 services are administered by bc211, and is available on Vancouver Island\Gulf Islands and in the Metro Vancouver, Squamish-Lillooet, Sunshine Coast Regional District and Fraser Valley and regional districts, with plans to expand the services provincially. [12]

In some communities, unused X-1-1 codes were assigned as plant test numbers for telephone installers testing individual lines. In the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, for instance, when 2-1-1 was dialed, it caused a busy signal to occur and the dialer's telephone line would "go dead" for several minutes afterward.[ citation needed ] These codes must first be "recovered" by moving the test functions elsewhere (958 and 959 are standard reserved local and long-distance test exchanges in most areas) to permit redeployment as local public information numbers.

Accreditation

United States

The American accrediting body for 2-1-1 centers is Inform USA, formerly the Alliance of Information & Referral Systems (AIRS). [13] Inform USA provides an accreditation process for 2-1-1 centers and certifies 2-1-1 Call Center Representatives as Certified Information and Referral Specialists (CIRS), Certified Information and Referral Specialists for Aging (CIRS-A) and Certified Resource Specialists (CRS) annually. Inform USA standards have been created to provide a benchmark for 2-1-1 centers and its staff. The standards regulate nationally how a 2-1-1 centers provides services and how they collect and store information.

INFOLINE of Los Angeles, an information and referral services agency serving the greater Los Angeles area, developed a national taxonomy of human services that provides a standard language for information and referral providers nationally. AIRS adopted this taxonomy as its national standard for use in the field of information and referral. This taxonomy provides standard definition of terms, an exact coding structure for referrals and search methodology for providing referrals to consumers.

Accredited 2-1-1 centers must have active Memorandums of Understanding with local 9-1-1 service as well as domestic violence providers, elder care providers, mental health providers and local law enforcement. [14]

Canada

In Canada, professional certification is handled by InformCanada InformCanada – Fédération Inform Canada. The national 211 initiative is a partnership between InformCanada and United Way of Canada – Centraide Canada.

Work is underway to create a bilingual, Canadian Taxonomy of human services based on the AIRS/Infoline Taxonomy. This project is led by InformCanada and significant steps have been made on the creation of a starter taxonomy by the 211 Ontario phase 2 project, funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the government of Canada. Updates on the Canadian Taxonomy Project are maintained by 211.ca. [15]

Implementation process

The number 2-1-1 must be captured and approved for assigning through the local telecom companies providing services in the local area. The process of implementing a 2-1-1 service in a community has taken many paths since its beginning in 1997. Some places have a centralized statewide system while others have decentralized regional networks with different types of affiliations.

In the United States, each implementation is monitored by the national accrediting entity Alliance of Information & Referral Systems (AIRS) and its local statewide affiliate.

In Canada, the deployment of 2-1-1 service is subject to InformCanada accreditation and Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approval.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone switchboard</span> Device used to connect telephone circuits to establish calls between users

A telephone switchboard was a device used to connect circuits of telephones to establish telephone calls between users or other switchboards, throughout the 20th century. The switchboard was an essential component of a manual telephone exchange, and was operated by switchboard operators who used electrical cords or switches to establish the connections.

Local exchange carrier (LEC) is a regulatory term in telecommunications for the local telephone company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">911 (emergency telephone number)</span> Emergency telephone number

911, sometimes written 9-1-1, is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, Dominican Republic, Jordan, Mexico, Palau, Panama, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency numbers around the world, this number is only intended for use in emergency circumstances. Using it for any other purpose is a crime in most jurisdictions. Penalties for abuse or misuse of 911 can range from probation or community service to fines and jail time. Offenders can also be ordered to undergo counseling and have their use of telephones restricted or suspended for a period time as a condition of probation.

Caller identification is a telephone service, available in analog and digital telephone systems, including voice over IP (VoIP), that transmits a caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment when the call is being set up. The caller ID service may include the transmission of a name associated with the calling telephone number, in a service called Calling Name Presentation (CNAM). The service was first defined in 1993 in International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Recommendation Q.731.3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North American Numbering Plan</span> Integrated telephone numbering plan of twenty North American countries

The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1 and has the telephone country code 1. Some North American countries, most notably Mexico, do not participate with the NANP.

Automatic number identification (ANI) is a feature of a telecommunications network for automatically determining the origination telephone number on toll calls for billing purposes. Automatic number identification was originally created by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) for long distance service in the Bell System, eliminating the need for telephone operators to manually record calls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bell Canada</span> Canadian telecommunications company

Bell Canada is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec; as such, it was a founding member of the Stentor Alliance. It is also a CLEC for enterprise customers in the western provinces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3-1-1</span> Special phone number for municipal services

3-1-1 is a special telephone number supported in many communities in Canada and the United States. The number provides access to non-emergency municipal services. The number format follows the N11 code for a group of short, special-purpose local numbers as designated in the North American Numbering Plan.

4-1-1 is a telephone number for local directory assistance in Canada and the United States. Until the early 1980s, 4-1-1 — and the related 1-1-3 number — were free to call in most jurisdictions.

A collect call in Canada and the United States, known as a reverse charge call in other parts of the English-speaking world, is a telephone call in which the calling party wants to place a call at the called party's expense.

A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number from a landline is free of charge. A toll-free number is identified by a dialing prefix similar to an area code. The specific service access varies by country.

In telecommunications, directory assistance or directory inquiries is a phone service used to find out a specific telephone number and/or address of a residence, business, or government entity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5-1-1</span> Traffic information telephone hotline in North America

5-1-1 is a transportation and traffic information telephone hotline in some regions of the United States and Canada. Travelers can dial 511, a three-digit telephone number, on landlines and most mobile phones. The number has also extended to be the default name of many state and provincial transportation department road conditions Web sites, such as Wisconsin's site. It is an example of an N11 code, part of the North American Numbering Plan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">N11 code</span> Short phone number used to reach special services in some North American countries

An N11 code is a three-digit dialing code used in abbreviated dialing in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP). The mnemonic N stands for the digits 2 through 9 and thus the syntax stands for the codes 211, 311, 411, 511, 611, 711, 811, and 911. These dialing codes provide access to special local services, such as 911 for emergency services, which is a facility mandated by law in the United States.

In telecommunications, a long-distance call (U.S.) or trunk call is a telephone call made to a location outside a defined local calling area. Long-distance calls are typically charged a higher billing rate than local calls. The term is not necessarily synonymous with placing calls to another telephone area code.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastlink (company)</span> Canadian cable television and telecommunications company

Bragg Communications Inc., doing business as Eastlink, is a Canadian cable television and telecommunications company. The privately held company was founded in Nova Scotia in 1969 by the Bragg family, and has grown since through the amalgamation of several telecommunications companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independent telephone company</span>

An independent telephone company was a telephone company providing local service in the United States or Canada that was not part of the Bell System organized by American Telephone and Telegraph. Independent telephone companies usually operated in many rural or sparsely populated areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone number</span> Sequence of digits assigned to a telephone subscription

A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices for data transmission via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or other public and private networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone numbers in Belarus</span>

Belarus began using its own country code +375 in 1995, replacing the +7 international country code inherited from the Soviet Union. The local numbering plan was inherited from the Soviet Union and remains with few changes.

In conventional landline telephony, a non-dialable toll point or toll station was a lone station or line serving a rural subscriber many miles from the nearest central office. As it had no home telephone exchange and therefore no local calling area, no customer could dial its number; all connections to it had to be obtained manually by the long distance operator.

References

  1. ↑ Appold, Katie (July 1, 2023). "Welcome to the New Inform USA Website". informusa.org. Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Inform USA - About Us". informusa.org. Archived from the original on September 6, 2023. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  3. ↑ McCook, Kathleen (2000). "Service Integration and Libraries: Will 2-1-1 Be the Catalyst for Renewal?" Reference & User Services Quarterly 40 (2): 127–30.
  4. ↑ "211 Social Service Connector Now Available for Metro Chicago" (Press release).
  5. ↑ "United Way Storm Recovery | United Way of Greater Houston". www.unitedwayhouston.org. Archived from the original on May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  6. ↑ "211.org". 211.org. Archived from the original on May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Social services just a phone call away with launch of 211". CTV News Channel (Canada). April 26, 2018. Archived from the original on April 27, 2018. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  8. ↑ "2-1-1 info line set to start". Ottawa Citizen. September 18, 2008. Archived from the original on August 21, 2009. Retrieved September 18, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Help Starts Here - 211.ca". United Way 211 National. Archived from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Where to Turn: Ontario 211 helpline goes province-wide". Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  11. ↑ "211 Nova Scotia". 211 Nova Scotia. Archived from the original on May 8, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  12. ↑ "bc211 -". bc211. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Welcome to the New Inform USA Website - Inform USA (Formerly AIRS, the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems)".
  14. ↑ "3-Digit Numbers in New York State · 411 NY". 411newyork.org. Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Canadian Taxonomy Project". Canadian Taxonomy Project. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.