United Way of Greater Kansas City is proud to operate 211, our region’s 24/7 resource and referral line. As we closed out 2024, United Way 211 Community Resource Navigators (CRNs) were on track to receive approximately 425,000 contacts between phone calls and unique website visits to 211KC.org for the year, which represents a nearly 43-percent increase from 2023.
This weekend’s winter storm and ongoing cold weather combined with treacherous travel conditions, have led to a spike in 211 weather-related requests. Over the weekend (Saturday, January 4-Sunday, January 5), 211 CRNs answered 1,146 calls for assistance. More than 24-percent of all weekend calls were related to emergency shelter or weather assistance needs. The breakdown of weather assistance weekend calls is as follows:
- 73 Calls for Extreme Weather Shelters
- 72 Calls for Community Shelters
- 34 Calls for 311 City Services
- 33 Homeless Motel Voucher Requests
- 31 Calls for Warming Centers
- 17 Calls for Residential Snow Shoveling Help
- 17 Calls related to Snow Clearing/Street Salting
A total of 683 calls were received Monday and Tuesday (January 6-7), and 114 of those were weather-related (17-percent of call volume). The breakdown of those calls is as follows:
- 36 Calls for Cold Weather Shelters
- 33 Calls for Community Shelters
- 14 Calls for Residential Snow Shoveling Help
- 13 Calls related to Snow Clearing
- 18 Homeless Motel Voucher Requests
It is important to note that while 211 is able to connect community members from our 23-county service region to more than 7,000 resources, there is no guarantee of services being available by the referral entity. There are challenges in meeting high demand for things like homeless motel vouchers and winter heating bill assistance, based on available resources in our community. United Way 211 Community Resource Navigators work diligently to make meaningful community connections, with 90-percent of requests being matched with a referral in 2023. The service is free and available to all simply by dialing 2-1-1 or visiting 211KC.org. Language interpretation is available in 150+ languages.