You have heard of 911 for emergencies and 811 for underground utility concerns, but how about 211? That’s the informational call service that helps people find local resources and used across 90% of the nation except here in St. Clair County, but we are getting close. Newly appointed United Way Board President James Larsen says various government approvals are the reason behind the delay in trying to get 211 fired up locally. As for technical aspects of the program Larsen notes our system is centering on a geographical area that is outside of metro Detroit, the problem with that he says is that the system is very overloaded. Technically the system is up and running but going live to the public won’t happen now until sometime this summer. Larsen notes a number of donations including the Community Foundation have helped get the system set up in St. Clair County. He says like other systems, the local organization has had to utilize donations to get the system up and running. The United Way Office has hired one of operators for the system which covers a dozen counties in this region based out of Midland. Larsen hopes to have a public information campaign roll out soon to officially introduce local residents to the program.
