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The District launched its new “Warmline” Tuesday; the call center at 211 helps residents access the city’s social services more easily.
The new call center is meant to cut down on the half a dozen calls that people may need to make in order to get assistance from the city.
“The District is really full of resources,” said Robert Matthews, the former director of D.C.’s Child and Family Services. “We wanted to centralize that really for District residents to understand where to call when they needed help.”
“Then have what I call a helpful person on the other end of the phone that can help navigate them through what oftentimes can be a very complex city, to get services,” Matthews said.
Those services could include things such rental, utility, employment and housing assistance as well as therapeutic and behavioral health services.
The 211 call center is now open to District residents from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
The department soft launched a pilot program over the last few months and its top needs include utilities, rental assistance and food assistance, according to Tanya Torres Trice, the interim director.
“It is a city that is pretty expensive to live in, and there are resources out there to meet those needs,” Trice said. “But if you don’t know how to get there, if you give up because you call five people, it doesn’t matter.”
Taniya Rogers not only helped design the call center as a lived experience consultant, she used the “Warmline” when she was living in her car with her two sons.
“If you need help, if you feel like ‘I’m running around, they’re just tossing me around.’ Call 211 because they care. They value you as a human,” Rogers said in remarks during the launch event.
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