Hey San Diego ! Need help? Dial 211?

211

While dialing 211 is the new way to ask the city where to find help, actually receiving help is another issue.

One thing that really burns me up, and trips my trigger, is when a person walks into a place looking for help, like a social service or a hospital or food service, and being told that there is no service available. 

Another thing is the fact that all of these non profits can form to mostly offer referrals to places. 

Each place has their own specific intake, evaluations, councilors, and orientation.  As a person who needs help, just how much time do you think it takes to research each of the numbers provided from the 211 outreach? Well I will tell you, I have hit several of the services, domestic violence hotline, food services, and I will report on each experience over the next few weeks.

I will try my best not to be bias,and I will give each service a fair shot.

But still I wonder, when I head down to The San Diego Department of Human Services over there on Ruffin Road, San Diego, why isn't my information placed into a central database, where all of the places who can help can just adopt us?  Why must we search backwards, giving  our names and personal information, over and over and over again.  We wait for hours to be seen, sitting through orientation just to hear at the end that there are no funds? Even worse, there is rarely a snack offered while we wait in these offices. Has the city lost it’s minds?  Doesn’t anyone understand that when a person comes for help they are in a crisis?

So, stay tuned as I explore with San Diego, our human service organizations who are supposed to be here to help, but actually the majority of what they do is offer referrals.

Someone please help us lower class people understand why we need to use our last bus token to get to a place that knows they are out of money, I think its rude.

I would like to see our nation recognizing the last 6 years of a child's growth towards college is just as important as the, after all if we teach them well, the first five and then ignore them while we work like dowgs, when they are teens what difference would the first five make if we cant get them out the door later. This issue will be another blog later….

All- in-all, the San Diego 211 system is looking pretty darn good, their referrals are accurate and there representatives are very compassionate. Use the 211 service for all of your questions regarding where to find help.

mvm

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