211 Tampa Bay Cares Inc

First contact is the region's trusted front door for help. We connect individuals and families to life-changing emotional support, community information and critical resources through: 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 211 Helpline and Financial Assistance.988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline988 has been designated as the three-digit dialing code that will route callers to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (now known as 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), which is now active across the United States.First Contact began serving as a national text and online chat backup center for 988 in April 2022 and began answering 988 Florida telephone calls for 10 Florida Counties (Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Manatee, Sarasota, DeSoto, Lee, Hendry, Glades and Hillsborough County) instate calls for 988 in August 2022.In FY 24-25, trained 988 text and chat team members handled over 58,400 texts and online chats from individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. 98% of our 988 visitors were de-escalated without higher level intervention. Visitor top concerns include suicidal thoughts, depression/anxiety, substance use, relationship conflict, financial stress, grief, bullying, and loneliness.211 Helpline211 is a 24 hour a day, 365 days a year, contact center based service that assists individuals and families in navigating the complex and ever growing maze of health and human service providers, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and community service organizations. 211 improves the way in which people learn about and connect with the services they need by providing access to comprehensive, up-to-date information at any time by telephone, text or online at no cost to the inquirer. 211 helps create new efficiencies in the delivery of health and human services by saving time for individuals seeking help, and eases the frustration of people searching for appropriate services for which they are eligible. 211 also helps service providers do their jobs more easily, refers ever more callers to the right places, and reduces costly duplication of effort by other service providers by building and maintaining databases.211 serves as a resource for businesses and local employers by assisting their employees and helping to maintain productivity. 211 supports stressed employees, decreases absenteeism and supports employee assistance programs.211 serves as a support system for emergency management by assisting before, during, and immediately after emergencies such as health crises, blackouts, natural disasters such as tornadoes and floods, or man-made crisis such as terrorism events. 211 is recognized by Pinellas County Government as a central telephone number for all health and human service information in the event of a disaster.211 provides trend data on health and human service needs (met and unmet) for planning and resource allocations. Many times, data provided by 211 is the first place to see emerging needs and demands for existing services. 211 data can be organized in a variety of ways, including geographically. 211 is particularly helpful in mapping relative locations of high areas of needs and locations of resources. As a result, 211 contributes to better use of scarce resources, including both tax dollars and charitable contributions. In this last fiscal year (October 1, 2024-September 30, 2025), highly trained 211 contact center staff handled approximately 62,000 calls, emails, online requests and text messages from local Florida residents seeking assistance.211 connects people with opportunities to "give help" as well as "get help." 211 provides an easy to remember number for individuals interested in volunteering or donating to call and be directed to various volunteer projects or donation opportunities in the community.The types of 211 contact center need requests by percentage include 42% housing assistance; 14% utility assistance; 5% food and meals; 4% health care; 6% mental health and addictions; 2% clothing, personal, and household needs, 2% legal, consumer and public safety services, 5% employment, income support and assistance; and 20% other services such as arts, culture, disasters, information services, transportation, recreation, volunteers, donations, government, and economic services). Additionally, in FY 24-25, $1,768,535 in financial assistance (rent, utilities, etc.) was distributed to over 550 individuals and families to stabilize their housing and employment.