Connect Services

CONNECT2-1-1 provides users with access to health and human services information for providers in health, education, employment, and food and shelter throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. CONNECT2-1-1 also enables users to search these services by geography and map routes between service providers.

Client: Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children

Challenge: In the Greater Philadelphia region, there is a maze of federal, state, and local government social service programs such as Medicare, county assistance, Social Security, disability programs, job training, drug counseling, and health care services. Social workers helping families to find service providers have limited tools at their disposal and no easy way to cluster services for less mobile clients. The Delaware Valley Association for the Education of Young Children (DVAEYC) wanted to create an application that would assist parents with young children in identifying the services they need to ensure the health and well-being of their families.

Solution: Avencia developed CONNECT2-1-1 (www.connectservices.net) as a user-friendly online tool for social workers and members of the public to find geographically accessible services for health, family, education, employment, food, and shelter. Users can easily identify service providers based on where they live and a routing function easily plans a trip between their homes and the providers they have selected.

Outcomes: CONNECT2-1-1 acts as a one-stop shop for navigating the myriad choices for social services in the Philadelphia region and serves several hundred visitors a month. It combines information on service providers in an array of sectors, addressing not just one but many of the needs of service seekers. It allows users who might be dependent on public transportation, sick, or looking after small children to plan the most efficient trips from their homes to the various social service agencies that help them support themselves and their families.

Website: www.connectservices.net